How Websites Trick You Using ‘Dark Patterns’

Have you ever wondered why it's so easy to sign up for an online subscription service, but when you want to cancel, it seems nearly impossible? Or why certain buttons on a website seem designed to trick you into clicking them? Well, these aren't just accidents of bad design.

They're deliberate strategies that are known as dark patterns.

So a dark pattern is basically when an interface is designed in such a way that it kind of either coerces, steers, or deceives you into making a choice that maybe you wouldn't have made otherwise.

And it's usually designed in that way to benefit the service provider.

That's Marshini Chetty, professor of computer science at the University of Chicago, where she also directs the Amioli Internet Research Lab.

Kind of hidden influence.

The whole idea is you're not consciously aware of it and you can't easily become consciously aware of it, right? And some researchers in the field have tried to unpack this and say that when you're trying to persuade someone, they're more consciously aware of what you're trying to do, right? But with manipulation and with something like a dark pattern, you don't even know that you're being steered in a certain way.

And even the most cautious people can be tricked into adding something into their cart or being told to click yes on a notification.

I think in many cases, our research and other research has shown companies are crossing that line.

There's outright deception or there's manipulation that is harmful to consumers.

But it's not just dark patterns that we find ourselves up against.

There's also the question of how much of our data is being collected online.

There's something called the privacy paradox.

which is although a lot of people, myself included, really want privacy, we sometimes act in a way our behaviors don't necessarily reflect that, right? I'll admit, like many of the listeners here, that sometimes when I see a consent notification, I just clicked accept because I want to get on with my business.

Is that the right thing to do? Not necessarily.

Some people are much more discerning and do not want their data collected about them.

From the University of Chicago Podcast Network, welcome to Big Brains, where we explore the groundbreaking ideas and the discoveries that are changing our world.

I'm your host, Paul Rand.

Join me as we meet the minds behind the breakthroughs.

On today's episode, inside the dark patterns of the internet and what should be done to keep us safer online.