Different Ways to Deceive: Uncovering the Psychological Effects of the Three Dark Patterns Preselection, Confirmshaming and Disguised Ads

Research output: Contribution to book/Conference proceedings/Anthology/ReportConference contributionContributedpeer-review

Contributors

Abstract

Dark patterns are present in many places on the Internet in a wide variety. The multifaceted nature of deceptive designs suggests that different dark patterns may use different mechanisms to deceive, and that these may be accumulated when various dark patterns are faced at the same time. Based on this, this study examined three dark patterns that were expected to have different effects on perceptual, emotional, and motivational aspects of decision behavior. In an online experiment, the three dark patterns preselection, confirmshaming, and disguised ads were examined separately and in combination. The effects on decision behavior, negative emotions, and dwell time are collected. It is shown that disguised ads in particular increase the error rate and dwell time in decision tasks. The combination of all three dark patterns leads to both enhanced and attenuated effects for decision making and transaction costs. This highlights the need to investigate deceptive design in a more sophisticated way with respect to the mechanisms of specific dark patterns. The present work encourages to a more nuanced view on the theorizing and investigation of dark patterns.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationHCI International 2023 – Late Breaking Posters - 25th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction, HCII 2023, Proceedings
EditorsConstantine Stephanidis, Margherita Antona, Stavroula Ntoa, Gavriel Salvendy
PublisherSpringer Science and Business Media B.V.
Pages62-69
Number of pages8
ISBN (print)9783031492112
Publication statusPublished - 2024
Peer-reviewedYes

Publication series

SeriesCommunications in Computer and Information Science
Volume1957 CCIS
ISSN1865-0929

Conference

TitleInternational Conference on Human-Computer Interaction 2023
Abbreviated titleHCI International 2023
Conference number25
Duration23 - 28 July 2023
Website
LocationBella Center & online
CityCopenhagen
CountryDenmark

External IDs

ORCID /0000-0002-6673-9591/work/150883615

Keywords

Keywords

  • dark pattern, decision making, transaction costs