SAN FRANCISCO—If addictive apps and sites are colloquially referred to as “crack,” a Stanford researcher’s presentation showed Web 2.0 developers how to freebase their technology.
Kendra Markle, a researcher at the Stanford Persuasive Technology Lab, has founded AlterActions.org, which will soon launch an weight-loss app based on behavior modification. But the subject of Markle’s talk at the Web 2.0 Expo here Wednesday was how mobile apps can psychologically worm their way inside a user’s subconscious, establishing a long-term relationship.
At a basic level, the brain is made up of an emotional portion, which Markle referred to as the elephant; on top of the elephant rides a rational rider, the intellectual portion of the brain.
“When we try to change our behavior habits we really have to attack this inner part of the brain,” Markle said. “Those are the parts that change our emotional patterns.” She said she was especially fond of the work of Affectiva, which has worked to actually measure the emotional response of users.
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Markle, who works with the morbidly obese, said that her patients could not be persuaded to simply keep a log of what they weighed. Recording that number attached a number of emotional issues, such as the reasons for their weight, their fears, and other issues. The result? The patients lied.
Appealing to a user’s rational rider doesn’t work either, Markle said. “If you push hard enough, you will run out of willpower, fail, and then you rationalize it,” she said.
Simply tracking the data as a graph engages the less powerful rational portion of the brain, Markle said. Instead, results should be characterized as “achievements” – something that the Microsoft Xbox already does. Users also respond to social cues, giving more weight to what their friends think or how they act. Finally, there must be an emotional connection; therapists don’t actually solve issues through logic, but help the user deal with the emotions that are associated with problems.
So how should an app developer engage the emotional center of the brain? Markle listed about a dozen suggestions, which the crowd dutifully recorded to hook more users onto their platforms.
1.) Reminders: Although a basic concept, it has to be done right: it has to be relevant to be affective, or else your brain will filter it out. Markle recommended that reminders be randomly sent, as an effective prod.
2.) Make it fun: Markle admitted that this wasn’t really an unknown to developers like Foursquare and others, who have made the “gamification” of tasks a business model. But the key is to allow users to do something with their rewards, such as “unlock” new clothes or features.
3.) Personalization: Another basic feature that apps don’t often use, Markle said. “If your phone keeps saying ‘Hey, Kendra, I know something useful for you’ and it is useful, I may think that my phone actually cares about me.”
4.) Surveillance: Users respond much more positively if they know, or think, that someone is keeping tabs on their progress. Markle said that she ran a study that told users to self-report data, and that the researchers would be keeping tabs on their progress on a daily basis. Every member of the test group contributed data daily, as asked, over the six-week trial.
5.) Disgust: Disgusting images do not actually affect a user’s behavior. Tying them to a user’s values do. As an example, Markle suggested an image of cruelly caged hens; by itself, it doesn’t change behavior. But tying it to the breakfast sandwich on a user’s plate might.
6.) Conditioning: “Neurons that fire together wire together,” Markle said. The “Pavlov’s dog” practice allows behaviors that are linked together to become inextricably tied inside the user’s brain.
Interestingly, the example that Markle used to illustrate this was Sony’s Android-based wristwatch, where only a bare amount of data could be displayed. Users habitually glance at a wristwatch; Markle suggested this constant checking also could be used to create a habitual relationship with the app.
7.) Show achievements to the elephant: Users respond to achievements, so those achievements must also cater to the emotional portions of the brain: a slowly growing flower garden that blooms as a user nears his or her goal, for example.
8.) Social proof and conditioning: Create an identity, Markle advised. People like self-identifying as part of groups, such as “Fabulous Girls Quit Smoking,” and then let that modify their behavior. “Once you self-identify as a vegetarian, you tend to say, ‘I don’t eat that any more, I’m a vegetarian’,” Markle said.
People like making popular choice, Markle said. Creating commitment and consistency to a behavior also reinforces that behavior, until it becomes a habit, she added.
An app developer can also work to “change the story,” by working with users who are turning away from the app, but that takes assessment and interaction, she said.
9.) Create emotional bonds: Anime-like avatars, with big eyes and childlike motions, work because they create an emotional response in the user, Markle said. The problem is that few apps take advantage of this. But there’s a risk here, as well, Markle said – for many users, “too cute” is a real risk.
10.)Rehearse emotions: Could a couch potato run a marathon? It’s a big step, and one that dissuades many from making the attempt. Instead, Markle said that one technique is to show pictures that indicate that people just like them can run the race.
But step carefully, Markle advised. Pushing the wrong buttons can trigger the wrong emotions.
11.) Integrate the future self: The problem with New Year’s resolutions is that the portion of the brain that makes the resolution isn’t the portion of the brain that sets down to accomplish them. “That’s why by the third week in January all those resolutions go away,” Markle said.
Instead, she counseled apps developers to try to encourage users to envision how they’ll feel as they accomplish their resolution, to try and engage that emotional portion of the brain.
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