Seductive Interaction Design: Creating Playful, Fun, and Effective User Experiences

Chapter 13. Small First Steps

LET’S BEGIN WITH a famous study that was done at Yale University in the 1960s. Social scientist Howard Leventhal wanted to see if he could persuade a group of college seniors to get a tetanus shot. He brought in a group of about 120 seniors, and had them sit through a lecture on the importance of getting the tetanus shot (and the dangers of not doing so). The students were then instructed to go to the campus health center to get a free tetanus shot. One month after this lecture, only 3 percent of the students had actually gone to get their shots.

Leventhal then repeated the test with a different group of students. They sat through the same presentation and were cautioned about the same dangers of not getting a tetanus ...