Chapter 9 – Persuasion and Compliance in Cyberspace

Chapter Summary

What Is Social Influence?

  • Defines the term ‘social influence’ and lists out the two different types of social influence.   Three different processes of social influence are identified: compliance, obedience, and conformity.

Compliance

  • Compliance is defined and Cialdini’s six principles are mentioned and described.
  • The foot-in-the-door technique is defined and explained using an online example.
  • The door-in-the-face technique is explained using an online example.

Obedience and Authority

  • This is defined and linked to the principle of authority.

Conformity

  • Conformity is defined and the original experiments by Solomon Asch in 1953 are described.
  • Why do we conform to online cyber-trends such as the Ice Bucket Challenge?

Persuasion

  • What is persuasion?
  • Some models of persuasion are described such as the Yale model of persuasive communication which looks at the characteristics of the source, characteristics of the message, and characteristics of the audience.
  • The Elaboration Likelihood Model is detailed with the central and peripheral routes described.
  • Research into how the need for cognition affects how we behave online is described.

Captology

  • This is the field which looks at the use of persuasive technologies.
  • It was pioneered by B. F. Fogg and the Stanford Persuasive Technology Lab.

  • Chapter 9 – Useful Websites

    This website is from Steve Booth Butterfield who is a prominent researcher in persuasion. It contains definitions and applications of persuasion tactics/models to the Web. The website is very informal and easy to follow.

    https://www.healthyinfluence.com/contact.htm

    The behaviour design lab is located in Stanford University and is run by B.F. Fogg. The website contains articles and videos on the area. It also lists out the various projects looking at promoting behaviour change such as promoting Covid Vaccination. It has details on Fogg’s Behaviour Model and Fogg’s Behaviour Grid.

    https://behaviordesign.stanford.edu

    This website has tips and advice for applying the principles of compliance to online adverts.

    https://cxl.com/blog/5-principles-of-persuasive-web-design/

  • Chapter 9 – Further Reading

    This paper by Fogg describes the design principles behind creating persuasive technologies.

    This paper by Knowles et al. looks at the difference between persuasion and manipulation as tools used in persuasive technologies. It also introduces the BARTER system in a case study which is designed to get people to spend locally using persuasive technologies.

    • Knowles, B., Coulton, P., Lochrie, M. & Wohl, B. (2014, February). “Convince Us”: An Argument for the Morality of Persuasion. Paper presented at the 17th ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computer (CSCW’14 Workshop) ACM, Baltimore, Maryland, USA. Retrieved from: http://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/68688/1/Knowles_CSCW_final.pdf

    This chapter by Hamari et al. is an empirical review of the research using persuasive technologies (95 in total) and categorises them from positive to negative in terms of the impact of the technologies.

    • Hamari, J., Koivisto, J. and Pakkanen, T. (2014). Do persuasive technologies persuade? – A review of empirical studies. In A. Spagnolli, L. Chittaro & L. Gamberini, L. (eds), Persuasive Technology: 9th International Conference, Persuasive 2014: LNCS 8462, Proceedings (pp. 118–136). Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing. Retrieved from: www.skateboardingalice.com/papers/2014_Hamari.pdf  

  • Chapter 9 – Audio and Video links

    One of the applications of online social influence is online activism and in this TED Talk, Zeynep Tufekci looks at why it may be easy to start an online cause but more difficult to sustain it.

    Another TED Talk by Eli Pariser focuses on what would occur if all the online information we are exposed to was designed and sourced to our tastes, and discusses the consequences of tailoring.

    A video on the intersection of behavioral psychology and technologies of/as persuasion.

    A TED talk by B.F. Fogg on changing behaviour with tiny habits.

    Interesting talk by Dave Rubin of The Rubin Report with  Tristan Harris (Ex-Design Ethicist at Google) to discuss how technology really affects our lives, why design needs ethics, how apps like Snapchat and Twitter are addictive because of their use of ethical and unethical tricks, and much more. It looks at persuasive technology and how it is being used.

    How Tech Uses Unethical Tricks To Addict Us (Pt. 1) | Tristan Harris | TECH | Rubin Report

  • Chapter 9 – Essay questions

    1. Explain the differences between compliance and conformity. Provide examples from the on-line environment to illustrate your answer.
    2. Captology is a multidisciplinary field with a myriad of possible applications. Discuss the various fields and causes to which persuasive technologies can contribute.
    3. Explain how you persuasive technologies can enhance inclusion.
    4. Discuss the ethical issues that might be faced from using persuasive technologies.
    5. How far would you go when playing a game using avatars in terms of how you would treat the avatars? Would it be ‘easier’ to cause pain rather than kill an avatar ?
    6. Why do you think people go along with cyber – trends like the Ice Bucket challenge?

Chapter 9 – Quiz

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