Shopping in the Dark | SpringerLink
Skip to main content
Springer Nature Link
Log in

Shopping in the Dark

Effects of Platform Choice on Dark Pattern Recognition

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
Human-Computer Interaction. User Experience and Behavior (HCII 2022)

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

Included in the following conference series:

  • 3148 Accesses

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.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
¥17,985 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Chapter
JPY 3498
Price includes VAT (Japan)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
JPY 11439
Price includes VAT (Japan)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
JPY 14299
Price includes VAT (Japan)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Benyon, D.R.: Designing Interactive Systems: A Comprehensive Guide to HCI, UX and Interaction Design (No. 1). Pearson, Harlow (2014)

    Google Scholar 

  2. Brignull, H.: Dark Patterns (2010). https://www.darkpatterns.org/. Accessed 07 May 2020

  3. Brignull, H.: Dark Patterns: Deception vs. Honesty in UI Design (2011). http://alistapart.com/article/dark-patterns-deception-vs.-honesty-in-ui-design. Accessed 01 May 2020

  4. Brignull, H.: Dark Patterns: inside the interfaces designed to trick you (2013). http://www.theverge.com/2013/8/29/4640308/dark-patterns-inside-the-interfaces-designed-to-trick-you

  5. Chivukula, S.S., Brier, J., Gray, C.M.: Dark intentions or persuasion? UX designers’ activation of stakeholder and user values. In: Companion: Proceedings of the 2018 Designing Interactive Systems Conference (DIS 2018), pp. 87–91 (2018)

    Google Scholar 

  6. Chivukula, S.S., Watkins, C.R., Manocha, R., Chen, J., Gray, C.M.: Dimensions of UX Practice that Shape Ethical Awareness. In: Proceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pp. 1–13 (2020)

    Google Scholar 

  7. Dhamija, R., Tygar, J.D., Hearst, M.: Why phishing works. In: Proceedings of the Sigchi Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pp. 581–590 (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  8. Fansher, M., Chivukula, S.S., Gray, C.M.: #Darkpatterns: UX practitioner conversations about ethical design. In: Proceedings of the Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems 1–6 April 2018 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1145/3170427.3188553

  9. Fogg, B.: Computers as persuasive social actors. Persuas. Technol. 89–120 (2003)

    Google Scholar 

  10. Forbrukerrådet. Deceived by Design (2018). https://fil.forbrukerradet.no/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/2018-06-27-deceived-by-design-final.pdf

  11. Friedman, B., Kahn Jr., P.H., Borning, A.: Value Sensitive Design: Theory and Methods. Technical Report (2002)

    Google Scholar 

  12. Gray, C.M., Kou, Y., Battles, B., Hoggatt, J., Toombs, A.L.: The dark (patterns) side of UX design. In: Proceedings of the Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pp. 1–14 (2018)

    Google Scholar 

  13. Hassenzahl, M., Tractinsky, N.: User experience - a research agenda. Behav. Inf. Technol. 25(2), 91–97 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Mathur, A., et al.: Dark patterns at scale: findings from a crawl of 11K shopping websites. In: Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, 3 (CSCW), pp. 1–32 (2019)

    Google Scholar 

  15. McKay, T.: Senators Introduce Bill to Stop ‘Dark Patterns’ Huge Platforms Use to Trick Users (2019). https://gizmodo.com/senators-introduce-bill-to-stop-dark-patterns-huge-plat-1833929276. Accessed 07 May 2020

  16. Mirnig, A.G., Tscheligi, M.: (Don’t) Join the Dark Side: An Initial Analysis and Classification of Regular, Anti-, and Dark Patterns. In: Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Pervasive Patterns and Applications, pp. 65–71 (2017)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

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
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jesse de Wit
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Christof van Nimwegen .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. The Open University of Japan, Chiba, Japan

    Masaaki Kurosu

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this paper

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this paper

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

Download citation

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

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-031-05411-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-05412-9

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics