'We're not that gullible!' Revealing 'dark pattern' mental models of 11-12 year-old Scottish children
Renaud, Karen and Sengul, Cigdem and Coopamootoo, Kovila and Clift, Bryan and Taylor, Jacqui and Springett, Mark and Morrison, Benjamin (2024) 'We're not that gullible!' Revealing 'dark pattern' mental models of 11-12 year-old Scottish children. ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction. ISSN 1073-0516 (In Press) (https://doi.org/10.1145/3660342)
Text.
Filename: Renaud-etal-ACM-TCHI-2024-We-re-not-that-gullible-revealing-dark-pattern.pdf
Accepted Author Manuscript Restricted to Repository staff only until 1 January 2099. Download (16MB) | Request a copy |
Abstract
Deceptive techniques known as dark patterns specifically target online users. Children are particularly vulnerable as they might lack the skills to recognise and resist these deceptive attempts. To be effective, interventions to forewarn and forearm should build on a comprehensive understanding of children's existing mental models. To this end, we carried out a study with 11-12 year old Scottish children to reveal their mental models of dark patterns. They were acutely aware of online deception, referring to deployers as being 'up to no good'. Yet, they were overly vigilant and construed worst-case outcomes, with even a benign warning triggering suspicion. We recommend that rather than focusing on specific instances of dark patterns in awareness raising, interventions should prioritise improving children's understanding of the characteristics of, and the motivations behind, deceptive online techniques. By so doing, we can help them to develop a more robust defence against these deceptive practices.
-
-
Item type: Article ID code: 88698 Dates: DateEvent12 February 2024Published12 February 2024AcceptedSubjects: Science > Mathematics > Electronic computers. Computer science > Other topics, A-Z > Human-computer interaction Department: Faculty of Science > Computer and Information Sciences Depositing user: Pure Administrator Date deposited: 15 Apr 2024 09:12 Last modified: 27 Apr 2024 00:38 URI: https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/id/eprint/88698