Behaviour Change & Technology

In Susan Weinschenk’s (2009) book ”Neuro Web Design” she writes about how websites influence people’s choices unconsciously. Weinschenk shows how influence and persuasion is wired into our brains. This essentially explains why we find attractive people or dangerous car chases persuasive without even being aware of that. Many of the examples used center around the known principles from Cialdini’s (2007) seminal book “Influence”. The best is of course to read both Weinschenk’s and Cialdini’s books, however, if you have little time available, here is a summary of some of the main principles of persuasion:

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1. Active participation creates involvement. All social network sites require active participation by its members and they are also the fastest growing websites. I have no idea what the next big thing in technology is going to be, but the safest bet is on technology that is used to communicate and be social. There is nothing people enjoy more than uploading personal photos, sharing videos, expressing their opinions, etc. Someone once said a bit humorously: “Anyone who denies that they enjoy talking about themselves is either lying or lacking in self-understanding”. I would not agree with the statement literally, but I agree that we love to share our selves with others.

2. Low-ball tactics. If you would like people to share some information so you can learn more about the users of your shareware application, you may find it difficult to ask people to submit information online. But, the chances are that if you start by requesting a small donation to keep continuing to make the application, and then request for information, more people will be willing to share information. Being asked to share information when you have declined to donate money may seem like a minor thing to do. However, make sure the initial request seems reasonable and somewhat in proportion to your second request (the target). It would not be a good idea to begin by requesting a donation of €50 and then asking for information.

3. Foot-in-the-door tactic. This is more or less the opposite of low-ball tactics. You begin by making small requests and then increase the scope of your requests. A funny example of the principle in practice was illustrated on a Norwegian television show where an interviewer knocked on people’s doors and simply asked them about how they were living, next he asked for permission to come in and see how they were living, and so it went that he even got to look into people’s bedside drawer a place you would normally not let many people in.

4. Social validation. Learning to know what others think is important. Sometimes we are introduced to products or services we do not know much about. How to decide if this is interesting or good for you? Well, have a look at what others have done or think about it. iTunes’ Genius function is a good example of social proof. Genius recommends music albums and songs based on what music you have on your iPod or iPhone. And you can also see what other people that listen to the same music as you have bought. You can give ratings, write reviews, and read what others think. This can be quite effective, especially when an album or song is just a mouse click away.

5. Reciprocity. Giving someone a preview, demo or sample of your product will make that person feel indebted to you, and no one likes to feel indebted. How do most people resolve this uncomfortable situation? By giving back (or reciprocating). Notice that there is an asymmetrical power relation here too. The person who first performs a service also has the power to decide when he or she wants something in return (“I gave you a demo which ends right here. Now, if you want more, you will have to pay”).

6. Rewards. Rewarding people’s behaviour reinforces that particular behaviour. Simple learning principles like this can be very effective. However, they should be used with caution. For example, rewarding people on a variable-ratio schedule makes the rewards seem scarce and unpredictable, and ask anyone with a gambling or gaming problem and they will tell you that a game with a variable-ratio schedule is more addictive than any other game. Rewards can also switch the motivation for using a technology from intrinsically to extrinsically driven and we know that people often lose interest in what they were doing when this happens. Not sure how this motivational change can affect business? Here is a little thought experiment: When you start paying a child that enjoys making puzzles a small amount of money (e.g. €1) for each puzzle they complete for a short period of time. And then you withdraw the reward (money). If you compare the number of completed puzzles, do you think the child would complete more or fewer puzzles after the inducements compared to before?

We have covered six of the principles here and now. There are more, so stay tuned!

References

Cialdini, R. B. (2007). Influence: The psychology of persuasion. HarperCollins: New York.

Weinschenk, S. M. (2009). Neuro web design: What makes them click? New Riders: Berkeley, CA.

See also

www.whatmakesthemclick.blogspot.com

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Language is a great example of dual information processing. One part of language is explicit and controlled and another part is implicit and automatic. Explicit language processes are consciously manipulated by people such as the choice of words, intended meaning, and intonation, while implicit language processes are largely unconscious and receive little direct attention.

To explain or not to explain?
Looking at the details of language can give us much information about people’s attitudes and inclined behaviours, as people occassionally disclose their attitudes or what they are going to do in a manner of the way they communicate but not in the content. For example, if one expects a Black American male “Darnell” who is a short-distance runner, to be quick on his feet, learning that “Darnell came in sixth place…” may instigate an attempt to explain his disappointing position (”… because he was slightly injured). Attempts to explain behaviour most often occur to make sense of things when there is an incongruity in attitudes or behaviour (American runners are known for being among the best short-distance runners in the world).

However, learning that “Darnell stole an old lady’s purse” is unlikely to be explained. Why? Because the information is congruent. And when information is congruent, it often means that our (stereotypic) expectancies have been confirmed. Thus, just by paying attention to the language, we have come to learn that the fictitious person in our example has a mental representation of Black Americans as both athletic and criminal. But merely having mental representations or articulating these representations in language does not necessarily lead to behavioural consequences.

One example that can lead to behavioural consequences is when subordinates communicate to a female leader that they perceive her as “too soft” or “unprofessional”. Consequently, female leaders sometimes shift their leadership style to a more powerful and masculine style. Language changes to become more directive, task-related, and generally contains few tag questions (e.g. “It could have been better, don’t you think?”), hedges (e.g. “I’m not an expert, but…”), and hesitations (e.g. “…uhm…” or “hmm…”). This sometimes happens when female leaders are put under stereotype threat that they are poor leaders. It is important to note that such reactance is not only reserved for female leaders. It can strike males too, and people in all positions and situations.

Promotion or prevention?
Motivated cognition can definitely translate into behaviour as Spiegel, Grant-Pillow, and Higgins (2004) demonstrated. They assigned participants the goal of writing a report about their leisure time. All participants were given the same set of instructions, except that one half were instructed to focus on taking advantage of appropriate times, places, and methods in writing their reports (i.e. a promotion focus), and the second half were instructed to focus on avoiding bad times, places, and methods in writing reports (i.e. a prevention focus). They were also assessed on regulatory focus prior to the task. Both those who were promotion focused and were given the promotion focused instructions and those who were prevention focused and were given prevention focused instructions were about 50% more likely to mail their reports than those where there was no regulatory fit (i.e. promotion focused/prevention focused instructions and prevention focused/promotion focused instructions). Clearly, paying attention to linguistic details and applying language with intent can dramatically change the “persuasiveness” of arguments.

Conclusion
Implicit use of language can be used beyond the few examples given herein to instigate cognitive, emotional, and behavioural change. It represents a low-budget and low-tech approach to both increasing the persuasiveness of arguments and attitudinal and behavioural measurements. But it also gives us access to information about people that may be inaccessible for different reasons (e.g. because language is largely an unconscious process or because people do not want to disclose sensitive information such as their racial preferences).

Key reading:

Petty, R. E., Fazio, R. H. & Brinol, P. (2009). Attitudes: Insights from the new implicit measures. Psychology Press: New York.

Reference:

Spiegel, S., Grant-Pillow, H. & Higgins, E. T. (2004). How regulatory fit enhances motivational strength during goal pursuit. European Journal of Social Psychology, 34, 39-54.

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Persuaded by the Fitness-Club

My fitness-club has understood that to earn money they have to gain new members, but also keep the members they already have active! Members that are not using their membership will sooner or later leave the club, so to keep the members happy and active is of great importance. Most members have joined the club to change their exercise habits in some way. To support the members in planning of their training, the club has a web-site where one can book group-training classes like aerobics and spinning. The most popular classes are often full, so by booking in advance the members are secured a ticket to the classes they prefer. This is the obvious reason why booking is nice to offer. But from a psychological view, or you might say a persuasive view, there is more to this booking- system than you might think. We shall now take a look at how this online booking- system actually utilizes basic persuasive principles; familiarity, commitment and consistency, social proof and scarcity (Cialdini, 1993). In addition the booking functions as a self- regulatory tool by helping you plan and self-monitor your exercises.

First of all, the booking takes place on the clubs homepages, so the member is guided to the booking system trough the regular home-site where all news from the club are presented. In this way the club persuades the members to at least take a glance at their homepage where special offers and news from the club are presented. Hence, the booking makes the members more familiar with their homepages. Familiarity underlies almost all advertising. An idea, person or product becomes more familiar and comfortable, and thus more attractive, to us through sheer repetition.

Second, the booking makes you commit to participate in particular classes. The persuasive principle of commitment and consistency is described as our yearning to be (and to appear) consistent with what we have already performed or stated. Once we make a decision, we will feel pressured from within and from the people with whom we interact to behave consistently with that commitment. Thus, by booking the class on internet the member has psychologically committed himself to exercise. You also know that by booking in advance for the class you have occupied one out of the 30 available places for that particular class. So if you don’t show up, it would actually prevent someone else from training. This knowledge will probably enhance your feeling of commitment to show up and join the class.

Third, you are persuaded by social proof and scarcity. Social proof is a psychological phenomenon that occurs in ambiguous social situations when people are unable to determine the appropriate mode of behavior. Making the assumption that surrounding people possess more knowledge about the situation, they will deem the behavior of others as appropriate or better informed. The scarcity principle on the other hand says that we want what we are afraid we can’t have. The words “Closing Down” and “Last Few To Go” are very powerful, because we value what is rare and exclusive. In the fitness-club booking system you get a notice if a class is full booked, and you can choose to be placed on a waiting-list. Thus you both see that this is a popular class that other people are joining (social proof) and you are also reminded that the tickets to the wanted class is a limited resource (scarcity).

When we are changing a habit like starting exercising, it requires effective self-regulation (see e.g. Baumeister, Heatherton & Tice, 1994). Self-regulation can be divided into three sub-processes: (1) self-observation; (2) self-evaluation; and (3) self-reaction. So to have a visualisation of your exercises makes it very clear to you if you have dropped out of training for a week. The bookings are presented to you in a calendar, which allows you to follow your exercise over time in your own training- calendar. Thus, the calendar workss as a self-monitoring tool facilitating the self regulation of your exercise behaviour. In addition the fitness-club helps you with the monitoring and regulation of your exercise behaviour. They also have access to your planning- calendar and actually pick up the phone and give you a call to check if you need help to get back on track if you have dropped out for more than a month. In this way you have no chance to “forget” about your training.

As you can see, the online booking system which by first glance looks like it is made just to help the fitness-club with administration work, actually turns out to be a system which utilizes both persuasive principles as well as helping you self- regulate to make you exercise more often. This is an excellent example of how a pretty simple online tool can persuade and help people that want to change their exercise habits succeed.

References:

Baumeister, R. F., Heatherton, T. F., & Tice, D. M. (1994). Losing control: How and why people fail at self-regulation. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.

Cialdini, R. B. (1993). Influence: The psychology of persuasion. New York:Quill.

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