Name: Hanna J. Neroj

School of Psychological and Brain Sciences – Ph.D. Dissertation Defense Meeting

Date: Friday, November 13th, 2026

Time: 9:00 - 11:00 AM

Location: JS Coon 148 or online (https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/2176377007980978?p=agsRjcSoRb5kP54DnK)

Dissertation Committee Chair/Advisor:

Bruce Walker, Ph.D. (Georgia Tech)

Dissertation Committee Members:

Richard Catrambone, Ph.D. (Georgia Tech)

Mark Himmelstein, Ph.D. (Georgia Tech)

Eric Schumacher, Ph.D. (Georgia Tech)

Nina Dalkner, Ph.D. (Medical University Graz)

Title: Development and Validation of the Model of Acceptance of Futuristic Technologies (MAFT)

Abstract: Established models of technology acceptance (i.e., TAM, UTAUT) provide parsimonious explanations of adoption when users can evaluate technology through experience or familiar comparisons. They are less explicit about how adoption intentions form when a technology is not yet available, its operation and consequences are difficult to understand, and reliable evidence concerning performance, failure, or misuse is limited. This dissertation developed and tested the Model of Acceptance of Futuristic Technologies (MAFT) to explain early adoption intentions under these conditions of experiential and informational uncertainty. Across three studies, flying cars were used as an exemplar futuristic technology. The research program combined assessments of prior beliefs and discrete emotional responses, structural equation modeling, and pre-post simulated exposure delivered through desktop-based 360 video and immersive virtual reality. The findings indicate that prior beliefs and affective responses provided an initial interpretive framework through which perceived value, trust, and risk were evaluated. These judgments formed an affectively organized pathway associated with adoption intention, with perceived risk playing a less dominant role than originally anticipated. Although psychological distance contributed to the broader framework, the findings placed greater explanatory emphasis on affective and evaluative processes. MAFT extends technology acceptance research by explaining how people evaluate emerging technologies before meaningful experience and reliable performance evidence are available. The findings suggest that responsible communication, design, and governance should support appropriately calibrated beliefs, affective expectations, and trust by presenting realistic benefits, limitations, uncertainties, safeguards, and error modes. Such calibration may reduce both overtrust and unwarranted rejection of technological novelty.