Persuasive Models and Technology

Prior reading indicates that behavior and contingencies are intrinsically related with persuasion elements. Behavior often leads to social interaction. Persuasive elements in computer systems have originated from the belief that people often respond to computers as though they are living beings [10]. This fact makes computer systems suitable to play the role of a persuasive social actor, capable of creating and maintaining a relationship with its users. An example would be the Tamagotchi14, a handheld digital pet simulation game, which consisted in the existence of a digital creature that could grow, developing depending on the care provided by the player. This gameplay lead players to interact with the digital pets, as strongly as if they were “real” pets. Some other examples of such cues applied to exergames exist, such as the use of a virtual trainer character in the Yourself! Fitness6,7,8 exergame, an exergame which operated with the sole purpose of guiding the user to perform an exercising routine to improve their shape with the guidance of MAYA, a virtual trainer character that was always

15

present on-screen and that served as the proxy between the program and the user. The use of such character implies that the game designers relied, on some level, on physical (3D human model) and social role (role playing the physical instructor / teacher authority role) cues. Another example is the successful Wii Fit exergame6,7,8,9,10 and its use of cute virtual characters that take on social roles of opponents and manifest other persuasive social cues.

Persuasive Social Actors

Foggs´ work suggests that when perceived as social actors, computer products can leverage principals of social influence to motivate and persuade [10]. Combined with the way people respond to computers, social influences and dynamics can play a significant role in persuasion factors applied to technological means, particularly with games. As such, peer pressure and social comparison (among others) become a strong motivator for players / users of such systems. Fogg proposed five types of primary social cues appliable to computer systems: [10]

Table 2 – Foggs´ Primary Types of Social Cues

Social Cue Example of an element regarding the Social Cue

Physical Face, eyes, body, movement

Psychological Preferences, humor, personality, feelings, empathy Language Interactive language use, spoken language, language recognition

Social Dynamics

Turn taking, cooperation, praise for good work, answering questions, reciprocity

Social Roles Doctor, teammate, opponent, teacher, pet, guide

Persuading using physical cues aims to prompt social presence through physical characteristics. Physical attractiveness tends to have a considerable impact on social influence [10]. High-persuasive tasks are often fulfilled by more attractive people (e.g. salesman, advertising or spokesman), which confirms that more attractive people tend to

16

be more persuasive than unattractive people. Mapping this to technology, we can assume that technology that is visually attractive is likely to be more persuasive than an unattractive one.

Although physical cues can prompt social presence this is not necessarily required, as computer systems can also convey it without using physical cues altogether [10]. Psychological cues are intrinsically related with emotions and personality concepts. Products that aim to persuade through psychological cues should try to convey simple cues such as empathy and emotion or / and complex cues that portray personality [10] (e.g. a computer that keeps crashing may convey a personality of being uncooperative). Psychology studies indicate that people we think are similar to us in personality, preferences or in other characteristics can persuade us more easily than those we deem as not being similar to us [10]. This research provided insight on this matter, concluding that similarity between computers and users (both with dominant or submissive personalities) can influence, persuasion wise. Also, the notion of group affiliation (e.g. teammates) contributes to persuasion through psychological cues.

Language also acts as a powerful tool with persuasion in mind. Delivering feedback cues, whether they are written text or audio pieces, using spoken language can influence people to adopt certain behavior (e.g. e-commerce sites use certain language patterns to persuade users to keep buying). This approach often empowers the systems with distinct personalities which lead to achieving goals such as acquiring and maintaining users. This usage of language coupled with the recurring use of praise also has a strong impact on users´ motivation and openness. When praised, people often react more positively, resulting in better mood, interactions and attachment to the used systems [10].

Culture influences behavior, as people tend to adopt certain behavior patterns that are considered as a norm within their culture. This is also valid for social interaction (e.g. shaking hands as a way of greeting). Modeling social dynamics is another way to persuade using technology [10]. A successful application of this type of persuasive cue are e-commerce sites that model traditional shopping social dynamics “behaving” just as a traditional clerk would. Systems´ can adopt persistent approaches, as well as exert peer pressure which ultimately should influence users. A powerful social dynamic is based on the principle of reciprocity, which states that favors should be returned. Foggs´ work [10] proves that this principle is also replicated when interacting with computers,

17

meaning that if people find the systems´ feedback useful they will, most likely, try to reciprocate the favor.

Lastly, persuading recurring to social roles can lead to compelling interactions between systems and its´ users. The Tamagotchi12 is a good example of this persuasion cue, as the game played the role of a pet which compelled users to take care of it as a real, live pet. The role of a pet is good enough, persuasion wise, when the target audience is composed of a young population. Social figures of authority such as police officer, judges, teachers or doctors have enhanced powers of persuasion as people will associate them with intelligence and influence. Some applications could also benefit from other type of social role persuasion, such as the role of a teammate / friend or opponent for games.

Careful handling of social cues is needed if designers want their systems to be effective in persuasion [10]. The viability of persuasive social actors is always related with the target audience and their specifics. Areas such as games and entertainment are a prime target for the use of such actors because players are generally a target audience which is more willing to accept and perhaps adopt the kind of social cues these actors provide. Designers should also search for the best possible quality and repetition of a social cue, to avoid risking players to become annoyed or even angry.

“When is it appropriate to make the social quality of the product more explicit? In general, I believe it’s appropriate to enhance social cues in leisure, entertainment, and educational products (smart toys, video games, kids’ learning applications). Users of such applications are more likely to indulge, accept, and perhaps even embrace an explicit cyber social actor — either embodied or not.” [10]

Persuasive Technology Design

Even though much work has been done regarding the use of persuasive factors in technology, persuasive technologies are a relatively new reality in peoples´ lives and this reality is changing with the advancing years, with many opportunities for the use of this kind of technology arousing [11]. However, its design process has a big problem as it mostly faces failure [11]. Work addressing this issue [11], proposes a process consisting of eight basic steps that should be performed by design teams wishing to develop persuasive technology. This method applies to the early stages of development of such technologies and aims to solve the failure of most of these projects, whose most

18

likely cause has been identified to be because design teams have a goal that is too ambitious or lack in experience to develop this kind of technology. The process is described as follows: [58]

Figure 2 – Persuasive Technology Design in Eight-Steps

The first four steps are inextricably linked and might not necessarily be followed in the order presented in the figure above. They are nevertheless essential to the eventual success of the project. The first step advises to choose an appropriate behavior for change and is the most important step. This behavior should be the easiest and smallest relevant behavior. The second step recommends choosing an easy target audience, meaning an audience that has demonstrated a desire to change the behavior targeted.

19

These kinds of projects usually fail, especially in its early stages, with selection of a wrong audience [11]. The third step emphasizes on the issue of determining the reasons which prevent the targeted audience from performing the targeted behavior. These reasons normally fall under one of three categories, them being the lack of motivation (e.g. to perform a physical activity), the lack of ability (e.g. not enough fitness level to perform a physical activity with a certain intensity that requires a minimum fitness level) or the absence of a well-timed trigger to perform the response (e.g. an audio feedback mechanism alerting a jogger to dash during a fixed period). The fourth step pertains to the choice of a familiar (in relation to the targeted audience) and adequate (in relation to the targeted behavior) transmission channel, technology wise. The fifth step states that the design team should search for relevant instances from companies which are succeeding because their solutions are likely to be effective or in other words, the designers should find successful examples relevant to their project (having in consideration the decisions made from the previous four steps). A common issue regarding this task is that information pertaining these examples might not be accessible (e.g. companies generally don’t share data with outsiders) so making educated guesses is a sensible approach [11] to overcome this problem. The sixth step relates to the old concept of ‘no need to reinvent the wheel’, meaning that after obtaining some successful examples imitating them is a reliable method to create the projects´ persuasive technology. Identifying and adapting existing solutions grants benefits, time wise and reliability wise, but to conduct this step, insight is required. The ability to explore an existing successful example and extract whatever key components that make up its effective success is the challenge. Real innovations, like all activities that foresee the creation of something, require a solid foundation, which can be built recurring to these “imitations”. The seventh step expresses the need to perform tests on the persuasive experiences rapidly and repeatedly. Undergoing a series of small, rapid tests is better than doing a big test [11] and these tests are not meant to be scientific experiments but rather quick trials that allow for prototyping and to test peoples´ reactions by measuring behavior. Each test, whether it is successful or not, will result in gain of more insight into rapid testing and what´s likely to work next time. The final eighth step can be considered once a small scale success is achieved. This moment defines a milestone and the project can then be expanded. This expansion can either aim for a new audience, less adoptive to the behavior and more difficult cases, or it can aim to target a tougher behavior. This expansion should only vary one or two attributes form the previous

20

success and should be systematic. This step can also be considered for bigger tests, like academic research, as a starting point [11], unlike the tests performed in the seventh step.