Silicon Prison: How Technology is Building a Sanitised Society

1. POLEMIC D I G I T A L Silicon Prison How Technology is Building a Sanitised World Barry Adams Polemic Digital December 2014

2. POLEMIC D I G I T A L About Barry Adams • Freelance SEO consultant at Polemic Digital • Dutch (yes, really) • Twitter ranter: @badams • Lecturer on SEO, UX & Digital Strategy • Editor & blogger for StateofDigital.com • Also blogs at PolemicDigital.com

3. A Brief Psychology Lesson POLEMIC D I G I T A L

4. POLEMIC D I G I T A L Fallacies of the Mind Actor–observer bias Ambiguity effect Anchoring / focalism Attentional bias Availability cascade Availability heuristic Backfire effect Bandwagon effect Base rate fallacy Belief bias Bias blind spot Bizarreness effect Change bias Cheerleader effect Childhood amnesia Choice-supportive bias Clustering illusion Confirmation bias Congruence bias Conjunction fallacy Conservatism (Bayesian) Conservatism / Regressive bias Consistency bias Context effect Contrast effect Cross-race effect Cryptomnesia Curse of knowledge Decoy effect Defensive attribution hypothesis Denomination effect Distinction bias Dunning–Kruger effect Duration neglect Egocentric bias Empathy gap Endowment effect Essentialism Exaggerated expectation Expectation bias Extrinsic incentives bias Fading affect bias False consensus effect False memory Focusing effect Forer effect / Barnum effect Framing effect Frequency illusion Functional fixedness Fundamental attribution error Gambler's fallacy Generation effect Google effect Group attribution error Halo effect Hard–easy effect Hindsight bias Hostile media effect Hot-hand fallacy Humour effect Hyperbolic discounting Identifiable victim effect IKEA effect Illusion of asymmetric insight Illusion of control Illusion of external agency Illusion of transparency Illusion of truth effect Illusion of validity Illusory correlation Illusory superiority Impact bias Information bias In-group bias Insensitivity to sample size Irrational escalation Just-world hypothesis Lag effect Less-is-better effect Leveling and Sharpening Levels-of-processing effect List-length effect Loss aversion Mere exposure effect Misinformation effect Modality effect Money illusion Mood-congruent memory bias Moral credential effect Moral luck Naïve cynicism Naïve realism Negativity bias Negativity effect Neglect of probability Next-in-line effect Normalcy bias Not invented here Observation selection bias Observer-expectancy effect Omission bias Optimism bias Ostrich effect Outcome bias Outgroup homogeneity bias Overconfidence effect Pareidolia Part-list cueing effect Peak–end rule Peltzman effect Persistence Pessimism bias Picture superiority effect Planning fallacy Positivity effect Post-purchase rationalization Primacy effect Recency effect Serial position effect Pro-innovation bias Processing difficulty effect Projection bias Pseudocertainty effect Reactance Reactive devaluation Recency illusion Reminiscence bump Restraint bias Rhyme as reason effect Rosy retrospection Selective perception Self-relevance effect Self-serving bias Semmelweis reflex Shared information bias Social comparison bias Social desirability bias Source confusion Spacing effect Spotlight effect Status quo bias Stereotypical bias Stereotyping Subadditivity effect Subjective validation Suffix effect Suggestibility Survivorship bias System justification Telescoping effect Testing effect Time-saving bias Tip of the tongue phenomenon Trait ascription bias Ultimate attribution error Unit bias Verbatim effect Von Restorff effect Well travelled road effect Worse-than-average effect Zeigarnik effect Zero-risk bias Zero-sum heuristic

5. POLEMIC D I G I T A L Consumer Decision Making Need Awareness Information Search Evaluating Alternatives Purchase Decision Post Purchase

6. POLEMIC D I G I T A L Consumer Decision Making Need Awareness Information Search Evaluating Alternatives Purchase Decision Post Purchase

7. POLEMIC D I G I T A L The Irrational Consumer  Availability Bias  Anchoring Effect  Mere Exposure Effect  Habituation and Defaults  Social Contagion  Hyperbolic Discounting  Post-Purchase Rationalization  …

8. Subconscious Decision Making POLEMIC D I G I T A L

9. Subconscious Decision Making POLEMIC D I G I T A L Most of our decisions are made by our subconscious mind. Our conscious mind claims credit after the decision has been made.

10. POLEMIC D I G I T A L

11. POLEMIC D I G I T A L Subconscious Priming

12. POLEMIC D I G I T A L Exposure Affects Behaviour The Mere Exposure Effect; • We develop a preference for things we are exposed to often. • This exposure does not need to be conscious.

13. POLEMIC D I G I T A L Words Affect Behaviour ‘Slow Walking’ study: • Participants are asked to create sentences from ‘random’ words • Participants’ walking speed is measured as they leave the lab.  Those participants that are exposed to words associated with old age (‘elderly’, ‘wrinkles’, ‘geriatric’, etc) show a significantly slower walking pace.

14. Environment Affects Behaviour POLEMIC D I G I T A L  When your polling booth is in a school, you are more likely to vote in favour of increased education spending.  Exposure to pictures of libraries makes you speak in quieter tones.  When you eat in self-service restaurants and can smell cleaning products, you keep your own table tidier.

15. POLEMIC D I G I T A L Does Free Will Exist?

16. POLEMIC D I G I T A L We Are Not In Control • Our decisions are subconscious, irrational and emotional. • Our minds are easily influenced. • We are not aware of being manipulated;  Priming bypasses the conscious mind and affects our subconscious directly.

17. The Internet of Things POLEMIC D I G I T A L

19. POLEMIC D I G I T A L Wearable Tech

20. POLEMIC D I G I T A L Embedded Tech

21. POLEMIC D I G I T A L Domestic Tech

22. POLEMIC D I G I T A L Where Technology Meets Psychology

23. POLEMIC D I G I T A L Nudging

24. POLEMIC D I G I T A L Algorithmic Regulation “Algorithmic regulation a system of governance where data collected from citizens, via their smart devices and computers, are used for more efficiency in organizing human life as a collective.”

25. POLEMIC D I G I T A L Apple Patent No. 8706143 Sensors in your car;  Is the car moving?  Is the person driving using the iPhone?

26. POLEMIC D I G I T A L “We know everyone who breaks the law, we know when you're doing it. We have GPS in your car, so we know what you're doing.” “By the way, we don't supply that data to anyone.” Jim Farley CMO, Ford

27. POLEMIC D I G I T A L ‘Safeguard Germ Alarm’ Sensors in public toilets;  Are you leaving the toilet without washing your hands?

28. Smart shopping trollies that tell you what you're buying and nudge you (emoticons, voice) to buy healthier food. POLEMIC D I G I T A L (Or buy food the supermarkets want you to buy)

29. POLEMIC D I G I T A L Perceptional Priming

31. POLEMIC D I G I T A L Everything is Measurable • Sensors to measure everything you do and consume;  Are you eating healthily?  Are you drinking responsibly?  Are you active enough? • ‘Nudges’ to alter your behaviour positively. • Repercussions if you don’t;  Increased insurance premiums.  Reduced access to healthcare & government services.

32. POLEMIC D I G I T A L Current Goverment Ideas Linking of benefits to gym visits. Tax rebates if you give up smoking, have a healthy blood sugar, and keep weight off. Automated tax avoidance detection: compare tax returns to spending patterns. NHS queuing dependent on healthy lifestyle.

33. POLEMIC D I G I T A L Who is Responsible? • All the blame for ‘bad’ behaviour is put firmly on the consumer. • But what about the corporations?  Subconscious nudging and priming are already being used to make us buy stuff that’s bad for us. Cheap lifestyle options are usually the bad ones.

34. POLEMIC D I G I T A L Consumer Regulation Instead of regulating companies, ‘algorithmic regulation’ will regulate consumers. A shift of the burden of good behaviour from businesses to consumers.

35. Punishing the Disenfranchised • Only the well-off can afford the lifestyle to prevent extra financial burdens. • What happens when not tracking your lifestyle becomes taxable? POLEMIC D I G I T A L  You have nothing to hide, right?

36. POLEMIC D I G I T A L Where Things Are Headed Governments want us to behave ‘properly’. Corporations want us to buy their shit. What we want is irrelevant can be changed.

37. POLEMIC D I G I T A L Behavioural Conditioning

40. POLEMIC D I G I T A L Thank You barry@polemicdigital.com www.polemicdigital.com twitter.com/badams