Shining a Light on Dark Patterns
Luguri and Strahilevitz report what the paper describes as the first public experimental evidence on dark patterns, meaning interfaces whose designers knowingly confuse people, make it hard for them to express what they actually want, or manipulate them into acting. Two large-scale experiments were run on representative samples of American consumers. In the first, people exposed to mild dark patterns were more than twice as likely to sign up for a dubious service as a control group, and people in the aggressive condition were almost four times as likely. Aggressive patterns produced a strong backlash while mild ones did not, and less educated participants were more susceptible to the mild condition than better educated ones. The second experiment sorted the techniques. Hidden information, trick questions and obstruction were the most effective at steering people towards decisions they were likely to regret or misunderstand, loaded language and bandwagon cues worked moderately, and must-act-now messages did not work. The paper closes on the regulatory implications rather than on the psychology.
Luguri and Strahilevitz report what the paper describes as the first public experimental evidence on dark patterns, meaning interfaces whose designers knowingly confuse people, make it hard for them to express what they actually want, or manipulate them into acting. Two large-scale experiments were run on representative samples of American consumers. In the first, people exposed to mild dark patterns were more than twice as likely to sign up for a dubious service as a control group, and people in the aggressive condition were almost four times as likely. Aggressive patterns produced a strong backlash while mild ones did not, and less educated participants were more susceptible to the mild condition than better educated ones. The second experiment sorted the techniques. Hidden information, trick questions and obstruction were the most effective at steering people towards decisions they were likely to regret or misunderstand, loaded language and bandwagon cues worked moderately, and must-act-now messages did not work. The paper closes on the regulatory implications rather than on the psychology.
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Luguri, J., & Strahilevitz, L. J. (2021). 'Shining a light on dark patterns.' Journal of Legal Analysis, 13(1), 43-109. Two large-scale experiments on representative samples of American consumers. Mild dark patterns more than doubled the rate of signing up for a dubious service against control; aggressive ones made subscription almost four times as likely and produced a backlash that mild ones did not. Hidden information, trick questions and obstruction were the most effective techniques; must-act-now messages did not work. Where dark patterns were used, the price of the service became immaterial. doi:10.1093/jla/laaa006
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The source
https://doi.org/10.1093/jla/laaa006
DOI: 10.1093/jla/laaa006