Persuasive Technology: Using Computers to Change What We Think and Do (Interactive Technologies) [Paperback]

B.J. Fogg (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1558606432 | ISBN-13: 978-1558606432 | Publication Date: December 30, 2002 | Edition: 1

Can computers change what you think and do? Can they motivate you to stop smoking, persuade you to buy insurance, or convince you to join the Army?

"Yes, they can," says Dr. B.J. Fogg, director of the Persuasive Technology Lab at Stanford University. Fogg has coined the phrase "Captology"(an acronym for computers as persuasive technologies) to capture the domain of research, design, and applications of persuasive computers.In this thought-provoking book, based on nine years of research in captology, Dr. Fogg reveals how Web sites, software applications, and mobile devices can be used to change people's attitudes and behavior. Technology designers, marketers, researchers, consumers-anyone who wants to leverage or simply understand the persuasive power of interactive technology-will appreciate the compelling insights and illuminating examples found inside.

Persuasive technology can be controversial-and it should be. Who will wield this power of digital influence? And to what end? Now is the time to survey the issues and explore the principles of persuasive technology, and B.J. Fogg has written this book to be your guide.

* Filled with key term definitions in persuasive computing
*Provides frameworks for understanding this domain
*Describes real examples of persuasive technologies

Editorial Reviews

Review

It is rare for books to define a new discipline or fundamentally change how we think about technology and our jobs. This book does all of this. You MUST read this book, whether to grow your business or to teach your children how to overcome manipulation.
--Jakob Nielsen, Principal, Nielsen Norman Group

Today's technology is used to change attitudes and behavior. This powerful, yet easy-to-read book addresses the issues critically, with insight, and in depth. B.J. Fogg has created an important new discipline, one that is of vital importance to everyone.
--Donald A. Norman, Northwestern University, Co-founder, The Nielsen Norman Group

Any medium has the potential to do great good or harm. Learn how to use design to intervene and make our interaction with technology more humane. A must read for those who are serious about designing the future.
--Clement Mok, Designer and CEO of CMCD

Book Description

Defines an emerging field that studies the overlap of computers and persuasion

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 312 pages
• Publisher: Morgan Kaufmann; 1 edition (December 30, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1558606432
• ISBN-13: 978-1558606432
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 7.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #64,651 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #6 in Books > Computers & Technology > Computer Science > Artificial Intelligence > Theory of Computing
  • #47 in Books > Computers & Technology > Computer Science > Human-Computer Interaction

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fogg's research critical to improving public healthcare, August 24, 2003

By 

Stan Kachnowski (Columbia University, NY, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Persuasive Technology: Using Computers to Change What We Think and Do (Interactive Technologies) (Paperback)

Dr. Fogg makes several critical points that are essential to improving the US healthcare system, particularly in the area of preventative disease:

* Computers offer an advantage over traditional persuasive media because they are interactive.
* As a tool, computers can be persuasive by making target behavior easier to do.
* Leading a user through a process aids in persuasion.
* Persuasive technologies often perform calculations or measurements that motivate.
* As a medium, a computer will be persuasive if it allows users to explore cause-and-effect relationships.
* Computing technologies that help people rehearse a behavior can be persuasive.
* Persuasive technologies can provide users with vicarious experiences that motivate them to change their behavior.
* By rewarding people with positive feedback, computers act as persuaders.
* Persuasive technologies often model a target behavior or attitude.
* Computers that create a relationship with the user and provide social support are effective persuaders.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Technology Designers & Marketers: Take Heed!, January 20, 2003

By 

Cate Riegner (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Persuasive Technology: Using Computers to Change What We Think and Do (Interactive Technologies) (Paperback)

It's 2003 and the initial excitement, innovation and greed that fueled the technology boom of the late 90s have all but disappeared. Yet left in their tracks are the tangible building blocks of an industry destined to continue changing commerce, education and social activism in profound and irreversible ways.

For a fresh perspective on the forces shaping next-phase software and Web development, look no further than "Persuasive Technology" by Dr. B.J. Fogg, director of the Persuasive Technology Lab at Stanford University. Surely, academic research may fail to generate the enthusiasm of erstwhile launch parties and public offerings, but Dr. Fogg's work offers a purposeful key to helping us understand, and thereby design, more effective and sustainable (read: revenue-generating) interactive technologies.

Proposing a new analytical model called "captology", short for "computers as persuasive technologies", Dr. Fogg is the first to address the increasingly important role of computers in actuating attitudinal and behavioral change - in other words, the ability to persuade users to take a particular action: to buy more, play more, lose weight, quit smoking, register to win, etc. For technology researchers accustom to the tenets of Usability - essentially the evaluation of functionality and "likability" - captology goes a significant step further, addressing the extent to which an interactive device (be it a website or mobile phone) succeeds in changing users' attitudes and behaviors. The importance of this research is unquestionable, if you can imagine (or personally relate to) an online marketer anxious to sell more goods, or a smoker who turns to a motivational website to help him/her quit. It is no longer enough for a website or software tool to be "user friendly"; its intended objective - as a tool of persuasion - must be achieved.

Through the study of captology, designers have a new framework for building products, services and promotions that succeed in generating the results they seek. What could be more timely and constructive in this period when all sectors - commercial, educational, social/civic and more - are straining to yield measurable, bottom-line results from their technology investments?

Thank you, Dr. Fogg, for the fresh and purposeful approach. Your timing couldn't be better!

Cate Riegner
M.A. Communications, Annenberg School for Communication. University of Pennsylvania
Principal, Media-Screen Consulting
Founder, artAngels.org

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Read chapter 7, then the whole book, January 13, 2003

By 

"mersenne001" (Palo Alto, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Persuasive Technology: Using Computers to Change What We Think and Do (Interactive Technologies) (Paperback)

Although much has been made of the secondary effects of technology--such as how "Email makes everyone a writer"--Fogg's book is the first that I am aware of to explicitly look at how computers themselves can be used as agents to change how people behave and think. As such, Fogg breaks a lot of new ground, giving a theoretical framework and practical advice for understanding how computers and the world-wide web work as persuasive media. Fogg wisely defines computers broadly: essentially, any interactive technology is a computing device, from the common desktop computer to a heart-rate monitor that gives feedback and analysis to the wearer.

Of particular note: Chapter 7 deals with what makes a web-site believable, and should be required reading for any web designer or content developer who wants surfers to change an action or belief based on their site, whether that action is as simple as returning to that site again and again or as complicated as stopping smoking. This chapter alone will be worth having the entire book on your shelf.

Another insight Fogg makes that struck me is how computers differ from traditional media in their ability to persuade: computers can adapt (within their programming of course) the message, its frequency and many other variables based on the response of the user. Television and print can't do that. This ability gives computers great power to persuade, closer in some ways to a human adapting a speech based on crowd response. Of course, computers have many advantages as persuasive agents that humans do not, such as the ability to provide anonymity and simulation of events. Persuasive Technology is filled with similar insights.

This is a very accessible book. Easy to skim when it deals with something less relevant to you. (Fogg's background in information design shows to great benefit.)

All in all worth the read.