Technology Behaviours and Attitudes in Youth: Correlates with Cognitive and Real-World Behaviours

Technology use, which has become ubiquitous in the lives of adolescents, has both positive and negative aspects. In the judgment and decision-making literature, the Cognitive Reflection Test is a measure of the tendency to override an incorrect response and to engage in further reflection that leads to the correct response (Toplak et al., 2014a). Navigating optimal technology use often requires resisting miserly tendencies, as measured by the Cognitive Reflection Test. The purpose of the current project was to examine technology behaviours and attitudes that are either adaptive or maladaptive through the lens of judgment and decision-making and cognitive reflection in a set of two studies with community samples of adolescents. The associations between these technology behaviours and cognitive reflection, cognitive ability, and real-life outcomes of antisocial behaviours and academic achievement were examined. Study 1 (in-person sample) served as a pilot study, demonstrating that several technology behaviours were measurable in adolescents and were significantly correlated with antisocial behaviours and academic achievement. The purpose of Study 2 (online sample) involved creating several additional items of technology behaviours and attitudes, and used exploratory factor analyses (EFA) to understand the associations among these behaviours and attitudes, and examined gender differences among these behaviours and attitudes. Both cognitive reflection and cognitive ability had small to moderate positive correlations with several technology behaviour factors. Cognitive ability significantly predicted some of the maladaptive technology behaviour factors. While cognitive reflection significantly predicted the adaptive technology attitude factor related to practical managing of technology use, suggesting a potentially important relationship between these attitudes and cognitive reflection. Furthermore, several technology factors significantly predicted antisocial behaviours and academic achievement. The results are further discussed along with implications and future directions for studying technology use by adolescents.