Bouncing Back: The Personal Resilience Science Insights Podcast · Life Management Science Labs

Thomas Schilling, Ph.D.: Dark Patterns and How They Impact Us | Bouncing Back #82

·48 min·2 clips

Cambridge Analytica used personality traits inferred from social media profiles to influence voting behavior in the US election.

1. Bouncing Back: The Personal Resilience Science Insights Podcast focuses this episode on dark patterns and their psychological and financial effects. 2. Joanna interviews Thomas Schilling, a postdoctoral researcher in behavioural finance and experimental decision making, whose PhD was completed at Victoria University of Wellington. 3. The episode asks what dark patterns are and how they change choices online, often in ways that benefit businesses over users. 4. Thomas defines dark patterns as user interface designs that intentionally manipulate people into making changes they might not otherwise make. 5. He contrasts that with digital nudging, which he describes as changing digital content to guide users toward certain decisions. 6. Thomas gives fake discounts and price anchoring as one example, pointing to crossed-out prices and a lower sale price. 7. He also describes pre-selected defaults and pre-checked cookie boxes, where companies can collect data unless users actively uncheck options. 8. Joanna describes Instagram pre-selecting a person to share with, and Thomas says that may be designed to make sharing easier or to serve another purpose. 9. Thomas says researchers have identified many dark pattern categories, and he gives an “alphabet soup” example involving currency symbols that can mislead people about the real currency. 10. He says that some websites or restaurants have shown prices in US dollars when people expected local currency, which can lead to a higher charge later. 11. Thomas links dark patterns to anchoring, confirmed shaming, and loss aversion, including countdown timers that pressure people to act before thinking. 12. He says these techniques are carefully crafted to bypass rational decision making and reach the more automatic, emotional side of the brain. 13. On financial harm, Thomas says the question is surprisingly under-researched because companies do not share data and researchers cannot use participants’ real wallets. 14. He says consumers may feel financially harmed when they buy more than they intended or return items after feeling tricked. 15. On personality traits, Thomas says extroverts may respond to messages about what other people do and may follow crowd signals like “80 percent” or “90 percent” of other users. 16. He cites Cambridge Analytica as a case where personality traits inferred from social media were used to influence voting behavior in the US election. 17. The conversation turns to worst-case outcomes, and Thomas says normalized manipulation could make people lose trust in digital platforms or stop noticing manipulation. 18. He says stronger regulation, smarter design, public awareness, and digital media literacy from an early age are needed to reduce harm. 19. Thomas’s tone is careful and explanatory, and the interview moves between definitions, examples, and practical advice. 20. People interested in behavioural finance, consumer protection, and online design will get the most from this episode, while listeners wanting light entertainment may skip it.

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