Persuasive interaction for collectivist cultures

Persuasive technology is defined as “any interactive product designed to change attitudes or behaviours by making desired outcomes easier to achieve”. It can take the form of interactive web applications, hand held devices, and games. To date there has been limited research into persuasive technology outside of America. Cross-cultural research shows that in order for persuasion to be most effective, it is often necessary to draw upon important cultural themes of the target audience. Applying this insight to persuasive technology, we claim that the set of persuasive technology strategies as described by B J Fogg caters to a largely individualist audience. Drawing upon crosscultural psychology and sociology findings about patterns of behaviour commonly seen in collectivists, we present a principled set of collectivism-focused persuasive technology strategies. These strategies are: group opinion, group surveillance, deviation monitoring, disapproval conditioning, and group customisation. We also demonstrate how application of the strategies can support the design of a collectivist, persuasive game.