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Article published In:
What Influences Influence? How the Communicative Situation Influences Persuasion
Edited by Kerstin Fischer and Jaap Ham
[Interaction Studies 22:3] 2021
► pp. 373–395

The influence of repeated interactions on the persuasiveness of simulation

A case study on smoking reduction

| The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Mental or computer simulation of cause and effect of certain behaviors is a recognized approach to changing one’s attitude or triggering an action. Meanwhile, psychology research results suggest that frequency of simulation may affect the corresponding persuasiveness. This paper argues that with always-on sensing and data-driven visualization technologies, interactive tangible systems can be designed to simulate hypothetical outcomes of real-life behaviors in everyday contexts, which repeatedly stimulate users’ imagination of behavioral consequences and thereby behavioral intentions. To investigate the effect, a working prototype of Incingarette, including a smart ashtray in connection with a digital picture frame, was built. When the ashtray is used for smoking, the digital picture is incrementally covered by virtual dust. Field trials involved participants in five daily smoking sessions. Post-session surveys show increasingly stronger perceived causality between smoking and the simulated outcomes, increasingly more vivid mental imagery of consequences, and increasingly intense intention to reduce smoking. Results suggest that repeatedly presenting simulated outcomes cognitively linked to real-life behaviors can increase behavioral intentions.

Keywords: behavior change, mental simulation, computer simulation, interactive tangible systems, blended causality, embodied cognition
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Theoretical background
    • 2.1Mental simulation
    • 2.2Simulation in virtual environments
    • 2.3Simulation blended in daily context
  • 3.Design of Incingarette
  • 4.Field trial
    • 4.1Method
    • 4.2Participants
    • 4.3Procedure
    • 4.4Measures
      • 4.4.1Perception of blended causality
      • 4.4.2Imagery of smoking consequences
      • 4.4.3Intention to reduce smoking
  • 5.Results
    • 5.1Perception of blended causality
    • 5.2Imagery of smoking consequences
    • 5.3Intention to reduce smoking
  • 6.Discussion
  • 7.Limitation and future work
  • Disclosure statement
  • Acknowledgments
  • References
Published online: 28 March 2022
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/is.00009.cho
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