Before the quarter started, I thought that this class would just feel like the continuation of a behavioral economics course that I took last year. While some concepts were similar, like the importance of nudges, this course took a much deeper dive into the psychological aspect of behavior change than I expected. My behavioral economics class centered around economic models of (ir)rationality, and it was refreshing to see the principles of behavior change applied to a more human-centered design process that accounted more for emotions, habits, and social influences.
I also did not expect this course to feel so directly applicable to my own daily routines and personal growth. Along with the theory discussed in class, the readings on habit formation, anchoring, and small environmental shifts will hopefully play a significant role in my long-term behavior.
Looking back, I can confidently say that I loved the in-class work time within our teams. I thoroughly enjoyed working with my team for the entirety of this quarter, and the team activities in class were pivotal to moving our product forward. I also appreciated the help from the TAs as they walked around, as well as the help from TAs outside of the classroom via Slack.
Some tools and methods proved to be incredibly useful, and I can definitely see myself using them again in the future. However, others didn’t feel as impactful in the design process. For instance, the bubble maps didn’t seem to provide any new insights beyond what I had already gathered from other tools and methods.
I feel that this course gave me the skills to apply design techniques in a way that fosters positive behavior change. So much of tech focuses on behavior change primarily as a tool for manipulation to drive profit. While profit is important, it would be even more meaningful to leverage these techniques to create small but impactful positive changes for users.
When working on a project, my motivation is strongly tied to believing that the product will genuinely benefit potential users. I feel even more driven when I see how it could positively impact my own life. Through this project, I recognized that I really struggle to stay connected with friends who aren’t physically nearby.
I hope that in future iterations of this course, more importance will be placed on the end of quarter project fair, where students can show their classmates what they’ve been working on all quarter. I found it somewhat frustrating that our last class of the quarter did not allocate significant time towards exploring our classmates’ projects. Our team also worked fairly hard on our prototype, and we would have appreciated the chance to showcase Hook’d.
I also wish some of the longer assignments did not require a WordPress submission. Reformatting synthesis documents in WordPress did not feel like a great use of time, and I wish more justification was given for why the class favored this particular submission format.
On the ethical side, Hook’d used visual cues via an ambient display as nudging mechanisms to encourage users to maintain their social connections. We believed these nudges were more acceptable than excessive notifications, as we wanted to avoid overwhelming users or making them feel directly guilty for not reaching out. One of the biggest challenges we faced was deciding how to represent the unhealthy fish when a user has not contacted a friend in a while. Our team wanted to ensure that we could strike a balance between effectiveness and subtlety, as we wanted to create a gentle but noticeable call to action without resorting to graphic imagery, such as depicting the fish dying. While we did want to achieve some level of emotional engagement, we were conscious of avoiding straight-up guilt-tripping, which could make the user feel pressured rather than empowered. If the visual decline of the fish were too extreme, the nudges could have turned manipulative, leading users to act out of obligation rather than a genuine desire to reconnect.
Now I think that behavior change is much more nuanced than I initially thought. It is so much more than the economic models and incentives that I studied last year; long-term habit formations and emotional triggers also play an incredibly important role in shaping how people act.
Next time when faced with a similar situation I will take a more intentional approach to designing for behavior change. Instead of focusing solely on incentives or external motivators, I will think more deeply about how habits form, how users anchor their decisions, and how subtle environmental cues can encourage long-term engagement. Additionally, I will apply these insights to my own life, particularly in maintaining relationships and fostering habits that align with my values.
