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A transformational product to improve self-control strength: the chocolate machine

Published: 05 May 2012 Publication History

Abstract

Lack of self-control is at the heart of many undesirable behaviors, such as overeating, overspending, and even overworking. While the field of Persuasive Technologies searches for ways to change attitudes and behaviors, it often neglects the science of self-control. We present the Chocolate Machine, an exploratory interactive product to train self-control strength based upon Ego Depletion theory. A field study showed the machine to increase perceived self-control over time, while providing a sustained positive experience. This makes the machine transformational, aiming at facilitating behaviors people find worthwhile, but hard to implement.

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References

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    cover image ACM Conferences
    CHI '12: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
    May 2012
    3276 pages
    ISBN:9781450310154
    DOI:10.1145/2207676
    Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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    Published: 05 May 2012

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    Author Tags

    1. experience design
    2. persuasive technology
    3. self-control
    4. transformational product
    5. willpower

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    • (2023)Designing for Integration: Promoting Self-Congruence to Sustain Behavior ChangeProceedings of the 2023 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference10.1145/3563657.3596050(725-739)Online publication date: 10-Jul-2023
    • (2023)Doufu, Rice Wine, and面饼: Supporting the Connections between Precision and Cultural Knowledge in CookingProceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3544548.3580697(1-13)Online publication date: 19-Apr-2023
    • (2022)Exploring the Design Space for Human-Food-Technology Interaction: An Approach from the Lens of Eating ExperiencesACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction10.1145/348443929:2(1-52)Online publication date: 16-Jan-2022
    • (2021)Aesthetic of Friction for Exercising Motivation: a Prototyping JourneyProceedings of the 2021 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference10.1145/3461778.3462079(1056-1067)Online publication date: 28-Jun-2021
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    • (2021)Demonstrating Freeform Fabrication of Fluidic Edible MaterialsExtended Abstracts of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3411763.3451538(1-4)Online publication date: 8-May-2021
    • (2020)Design to Eat SmartProceedings of the 14th EAI International Conference on Pervasive Computing Technologies for Healthcare10.1145/3421937.3421974(108-121)Online publication date: 18-May-2020
    • (2020)Making Tactful Objects for Sensitive SettingsProceedings of the 11th Nordic Conference on Human-Computer Interaction: Shaping Experiences, Shaping Society10.1145/3419249.3420140(1-7)Online publication date: 25-Oct-2020
    • (2020)Good for the Many or Best for the Few?Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/34152394:CSCW2(1-22)Online publication date: 15-Oct-2020
    • (2019)MorphlourProceedings of the 32nd Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology10.1145/3332165.3347949(329-340)Online publication date: 17-Oct-2019
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