Technological determinism is the belief that technology drives societal change, but this view became less popular in the 1990s. While technology does shape human communication and behavior to some degree, the extent and ways it does so depend on various circumstances. Early tool use transformed human abilities and may have contributed to brain development. Whether and how technology impacts behavior results from an interplay of technological, social, and cultural factors. While technology can make actions easier through features like self-monitoring and social sharing, predicting its effects is difficult due to human variability in adoption and use of technology. Behavioral design must consider this unpredictability.

1. Technological Determinism and
Behaviour Change
Adam N Joinson
Bristol Social Marketing Centre
Bristol Business School

2. Technological determinism
• 'The belief in technology as a key governing
force in society ..’ (Smith, 1977)
• Became unpopular in 1990s – socio-technical
perspectives…but…
– Now, the question is no longer: does technology
shape human communication, but rather: under what
circumstances, in what ways, and to what extent?
(Herring, 2004, 26-27)
– Everyone wants to be healthier, but most don’t have
enough time for it, so the [Samsung] S5 can now do it
for you.

3. Technology and behaviour
change

4. Tools and Behaviour
• First tool use around
3 million years ago.
• Early tools
transformed abilities
(e.g. to remove flesh
from animals)
• May have heralded
evolution of energy
hungry brain

5. Tools, Technology and
Behaviour

6. Affordances
• A quality of the
object
• An ‘action
possibility’
• A ‘perceived’
affordance -
relational

7. Assemblage
• Shove &
Southerton, 2000
• Impact (and use)
a combination of
technological,
cultural and
social factors

8. Persuasive technology
• B J Fogg

9. E-A-S-T framework

10. Extension
• Based on McLuhan’s definition of
media
• Technology and tools…
• Make things faster, easier, more
efficient.
• Remove barriers to completing an
action – ease of completion
• Makes new actions possible
• Changes the reward structure

11. Extension

12. Amplification

13. Shaping

14. Shaping
via
constraints

15. Shaping: Rewards

17. But…..Determinism != Designability

18. Behavioural Design vs. Unpredictability…
• The Frankenstein Syndrome: One creates a
machine for a particular and limited purpose. But
once the machine is built, we discover, always to
our surprise - that it has ideas of its own; that it
is quite capable not only of changing our habits
but... of changing our habits of mind (Postman
1983, p. 23)
• Lao Tzu 6th
Century BC, "Those who have
knowledge, don't predict. Those who predict,
don't have knowledge”

19. Telephone
• Dismissed as an ‘electrical
toy’
• Seen as a broadcast
device...
– “dancing party...with no need
for a musician” (Nature, 1876)
– Telephone newspapers
• Social chat discouraged
– 30% of telephone use
‘unnecessary idle gossip’
(1909)

20. • …in order to make money
out of those users and
satisfy the denizens of
Wall Street, it has to
become ever more
intrusive and manipulative.
It's condemned, in other
words, to intrusive
overstretch. Which is why,
in the end, it will become a
footnote in the history of
the internet.
• John Naughton, Guardian,
27th
January 2013

21. Health gadgets and behaviour

22. Health wearables and behaviour
capturecapture
analyseanalyse
Self-monitoringSelf-monitoring
motivationmotivation
shareshare
comparisoncomparison
Social proofSocial proof
Ease /
simplicity
Ease /
simplicity
kairoskairos
Social
actors
Social
actors
consistencyconsistency
Biases /
nudges
Biases /
nudges

24. So…There’s another side
to behavioural
design and
determinism
The inherent
unpredictability of
human behaviour
and adoption of
technology
B = f (P, E)

25. Thanks
Adam.Joinson@uwe.ac.uk
@joinson (Twitter)
Adam.Joinson@uwe.ac.uk
@joinson (Twitter)