Jiin The Digital Unfreezing Lab is a concept-driven research project exploring how people form, hold, and revise beliefs in AI-mediated and digitally saturated environments. The project investigates the “Closure–Comfort Paradox”—the idea that while epistemic openness is essential for learning, psychological closure often feels safer, easier, and more emotionally comfortable.
The Lab translates this theoretical framework into an interactive experimental environment where users encounter simulated information scenarios and reflect on how uncertainty, emotional responses, and interface design influence belief stability. Rather than delivering answers, the system is designed to provoke epistemic friction—moments where users become aware of their own reasoning patterns, emotional reactions, and tendency toward premature closure.
As both a pedagogical tool and a research instrument, the Digital Unfreezing Lab supports experimentation with strategies for scaffolding epistemic flexibility, including exposure to conflicting sources, uncertainty visualization, and AI-mediated prompts. It enables the future collection of qualitative and behavioral data on how individuals respond to ambiguity, misinformation, and social pressure in digital environments. Digital Unfreezing Lab Simulation Link