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Not Annoying the User for Better Password Choice: Effect of Incidental Anger Emotion on Password Choice

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HCI for Cybersecurity, Privacy and Trust (HCII 2020)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNISA,volume 12210))

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Abstract

Literature often reports users’ experience of frustration, irritation [52], annoyance [42] with respect to security. With regards to password choice, annoyance due to complexity has been linked with weaker passwords [42].

We investigate the influence of incidental anger versus neutral emotion stimulus on password choice.

We design a between-subject controlled lab experiment with N = 56 participants, with a GMail registration scenario. We employ standard video clips as mood induction protocol [59]. We measure password strength via zxcvbn and emotion via IBM’s Tone Analyzer and PANAS-X.

We find that participants in the anger stimulus condition created significantly weaker passwords than those in the neutral stimulus condition, t(54) = 2.901, p = .005, with a near large effect size, g = .77.

This study provides the empirical evidence of the effect of incidental anger emotion on password choice. Our findings are consequential for security because they suggest that if users feel frustration (which may arise from various sources including requirements for security compliance, human-computer interaction design, or any incidental life situation), the impact is likely a weaker security choice, that is, a risk-seeking rather than a risk-avoiding choice.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

    Laheem Khan, Kovila P. L. Coopamootoo & Magdalene Ng

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  1. Laheem Khan
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  2. Kovila P. L. Coopamootoo
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  3. Magdalene Ng
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Correspondence to Kovila P. L. Coopamootoo .

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  1. San Jose State University, San Jose, CA, USA

    Abbas Moallem

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Khan, L., Coopamootoo, K.P.L., Ng, M. (2020). Not Annoying the User for Better Password Choice: Effect of Incidental Anger Emotion on Password Choice. In: Moallem, A. (eds) HCI for Cybersecurity, Privacy and Trust. HCII 2020. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 12210. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-50309-3_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-50309-3_10

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