[1] Such technologies are regularly used in sales, diplomacy, politics, religion, military training, public health, and management, and may potentially be used in any area of human-human or human-computer interaction.
Most self-identified persuasive technology research focuses on interactive, computational technologies, including desktop computers, Internet services, video games, and mobile devices,[2] but this incorporates and builds on the results, theories, and methods of experimental psychology, rhetoric,[3] and human-computer interaction.
[24] Halko and Kientz made an extensive search in the literature for persuasive strategies and methods used in the field of psychology to modify health-related behaviors.
[citation needed] This persuades the user through external motivators, for example, winning a trophy as a reward for completing a task.
For example, adding flowers, butterflies, and other nice-looking elements to an empty nature scene as a user practises more healthy behaviors.
[citation needed] More recently, Lieto and Vernero[29][30] have also shown that arguments reducible to logical fallacies are a class of widely adopted persuasive techniques in both web and mobile technologies.
[32] A 2021 report by the RAND Corporation [33] shows how the use of logical fallacies is one of the rhetorical strategies used by the Russia and its agents to influence the online discourse and spread subversive information in Europe.
Digital health coaching is the utilization of computers as persuasive technology to augment the personal care delivered to patients, and is used in numerous medical settings.
However, even though these strategies have been demonstrated to be effective, there are also existing barriers to implementation of such programs: limited time, resources, as well as patient factors such as embarrassment of disclosing their health habits.
For instance, behavior change theories have also been used in sustainability, such as saving electricity,[38] and lifestyle, such as helping people drinking more water.
[39] These research has shown that these theories, already effectively proven useful in healthcare, is equally powerful in other fields to promote behavior change.
Persuasive technologies developed relies on self-report or automated systems that monitor human behavior using sensors and pattern recognition algorithms.
Several studies in the medical field have noted that self-report is subject to bias, recall errors and low adherence rates.
Utilizing sensors and machine learning algorithms to monitor and predict human behavior remains a challenging problem, especially that most of the persuasive technologies require just-in-time intervention.
Furthermore, meta-analyses of the effectiveness of persuasive technologies have shown that the behavior change evidence collected so far is at least controversial, since it is rarely obtained by Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs),[43] the “gold standard” in causal inference analysis.
In particular, due to relevant practical challenges to perform strict RCTs,[44] most of the above-mentioned empirical trials on lifestyles rely on voluntary, self-selected participants.
A study by Cellina et al. on an app-based behavior change trial in the mobility field found evidence of no self-selection biases.
[citation needed] The question of manipulating feelings and desires through persuasive technology remains an open ethical debate.