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Shopping in the Dark

Effects of Platform Choice on Dark Pattern Recognition

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Human-Computer Interaction. User Experience and Behavior (HCII 2022)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 13304))

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Abstract

Dark patterns are user interfaces designed to trick users into doing things they might not otherwise do. Human psychological insights are carefully exploited by designers to craft these patterns. This study investigates the relation between dark pattern recognition and platform choice. An experiment was designed in which 54 participants performed a shopping task. In the website different dark pattern types were implemented, such as “Sneak into Basket”, “Toying with emotions” and “Trick Questions”. Results showed that mobile users are twice as likely to fall for one of the patterns. In addition, a significant correlation was found between falling for that same dark pattern and the age of users. The older the user, the more chance of falling for that pattern. Lastly it showed that the higher the website’s “honesty” is rated, the higher the “navigability” is rated.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Science, Department of Information and Computing Sciences, Utrecht University, Princetonlaan 5, 3584 CC, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Christof van Nimwegen & Jesse de Wit

Authors
  1. Christof van Nimwegen
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  2. Jesse de Wit
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Correspondence to Christof van Nimwegen .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. The Open University of Japan, Chiba, Japan

    Masaaki Kurosu

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van Nimwegen, C., de Wit, J. (2022). Shopping in the Dark. In: Kurosu, M. (eds) Human-Computer Interaction. User Experience and Behavior. HCII 2022. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 13304. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-05412-9_32

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-05412-9_32

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-031-05411-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-05412-9

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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