Behavior-change techniques have migrated from face-to-face to automated digital tools at scale

Evidence

The researchers warn that behavior modification is a “fast-moving field.” As illustration, they note that the first such taxonomy, published only four years earlier, had identified just twenty-two behavior-change techniques, many of which were individually oriented and required face-to-face interaction and relationship building. In contrast, the newer techniques are aimed at “community and population-level interventions,” a fact that speaks to the migration of behavior-change operations to the novel capabilities (contextual control, automated digital nudges, operant conditioning at scale) of the internet-enabled tools upon which economies of action depend. — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 2444

Categorization

• XREF: Connects directly to Zuboff’s core thesis on ‘economies of action’ and the mechanisms of behavioral surplus extraction discussed in the main chapters. — connects to: Programming perception through technical devices leads to programming behavior — Yves Citton, The Ecology of Attention, 210; Behavioral monitoring replaces reasons with algorithmic performance thresholds in urban governance — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 716; Economies of action get institutionalized into automated algorithms that modify behavior — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 939 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Behavior modification now operates through ninety-three codified techniques in sixteen clusters #expands (0.90) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 2443