Persuasive Tech

Captology is the study of computers as persuasive technologies. This includes the design, research, ethics and analysis of interactive computing products (computers, mobile phones, websites, wireless technologies, mobile applications, video games, etc.) created for the purpose of changing people’s attitudes or behaviors. BJ Fogg derived the term captology in 1996 from an acronym: Computers As Persuasive Technologies = CAPT.

Where Persuasion and Computers Intersect

The field of captology and persuasive technology is growing quickly. Every day more computing products, including websites and mobile apps, are designed to change what people think and do.

As we see it today, captology isn’t just persuasive web sites or video games to change behaviors. Captology is a way of thinking clearly about target behaviors and how to achieve those goals using technology. Captology is a method with related tools for solving problems. Our frameworks and theories are all about helping people understand and measure what matters.

Captology Resources

People often ask how they can learn more about captology. Here are some things we suggest.

• Review the Resources available on this website.
• Sign up for our free email newsletter.
• Join our Facebook Page and learn about other ways to engage.
• Check out BJ Fogg’s personal website.

We’ve also created some books related to captology:

• Persuasive Technology: Using Computers to Change What We Think and Do.
• Mobile Persuasion
• Texting 4 Health

The Stanford Persuasive Tech Lab performs research into computers as persuasive technologies and its ethical use. It is part of H-STAR, the Human Sciences and Technologies Advanced Research Institute at Stanford University.

History of the Lab

The study of persuasive technology began at Stanford in the 1990s. As a Stanford doctoral student (1993-1997), BJ Fogg used methods from experimental psychology to demonstrate that computers can change people’s thoughts and behaviors in predictable ways. His thesis was entitled “Charismatic Computers.” BJ Fogg went on to found the lab in 1998.

Persuasive technology is now a global area of research and design. In the early days, the lab was doing research, conducting classes, and organizing events at Stanford.

Persuasive Technology Conferences

• Colleagues at the Eindhoven University of Technology organized the first global conference in 2006: First International Conference on Persuasive Technology for Human Well-Being. Since then, the conference has been an annual event, bringing together researchers and practitioners from around the world.
• Stanford University hosted the 2007 International Conference on Persuasive Technology.
• Oulu University and Aalborg University hosted the 2008 International Conference on Persuasive Technology.
• Claremont College hosted the 2009 International Conference on Persuasive Technology.
• The 2010 International Conference on Persuasive Technology was hosted by the Royal School of Library and Information Science in collaboration with Aalborg University and Oulu University.
• Ohio State University hosted the 2011 International Conference on Persuasive Technology.
• Persuasive Technology 2012 was hosted by Linköping University in Linköping, Sweden.
• The eighth International Conference on Persuasive Technology was held in 2013 in Sydney, Australia.
• Persuasive Technology 2014 was held in Padua, Italy. Persuasive Technology 2015 came back to the USA and was held in Chicago, IL.
• PT-16 was hosted by the Center for Human-Computer Interaction / Department of Computer Sciences at the University of Salzburg in close cooperation with the with the Business Unit Technology Experience (Innovations Systems Department) at AIT Austrian Institute of Technology.
• Persuasive Technology XII  (2017) in was held in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
• The thirteenth Persuasive Technology Conference (PT-18) will take place in Waterloo, Canada in 2018.

Learn more about persuasive technology

People often ask how they can learn more about captology. First of all, read the material on this website. After that, check out some of the items below:

• Read the book Persuasive Technology: Using Computers to Change What We Think and Do.
• Read the book Mobile Persuasion.
• See the website of BJ Fogg, who is our lab’s founder and director.
• Sign up for the free newsletter from our lab.

Dr. BJ Fogg directs the Persuasive Tech Lab at Stanford University. A psychologist and innovator, he devotes half of his time to industry projects. His work empowers people to think clearly about the psychology of persuasion — and then to convert those insights into real-world outcomes.

BJ has created a new model of human behavior change, which guides research and design. Drawing on these principles, his students created Facebook Apps that motivated over 16 million user installations in 10 weeks.

He is the author of Persuasive Technology: Using Computers to Change What We Think and Do, a book that explains how computers can motivate and influence people.  BJ is also the co-editor of Mobile Persuasion, as well as Texting 4 Health.

Fortune Magazine selected BJ Fogg as one of the  “10 New Gurus You Should Know”.

Please feel free to contact the Stanford Persuasive Tech Lab. We appreciate your inquiries and feedback. We maintain an office on the Stanford campus but email is the best way to reach us.

Persuasive Tech Lab
H-STAR Institute
Cordura Hall
210 Panama Street
Stanford, CA 94305
captology@stanford.edu

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

To keep people updated on new developments in captology, we send out an e-mail newsletter every few months. We typically write five or six articles of 120 words each, so it won’t overload you.

The newsletter is free. To sign up please email captology@stanford.edu with “new subscriber” in the subject line and your name in the body of the email. You can also use the “Get Connected” form in the sidebar –> over there on the right.

Extra Credit

We’d appreciate knowing a few things about you. This information is not required, but it helps us target our articles (and perhaps future projects) to your needs and interests. Sign up for our newsletter and then email us with this information:

• how you learned about the Persuasive Technology Lab
• what you do professionally
• what interests you about captology

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