Don't touch that dial: Psychological reactance, transparency, and user acceptance of smart thermostat setting changes.
Automation inherently removes a certain amount of user control. If perceived as a loss of freedom, users may experience psychological reactance, which is a motivational state that can lead a person to engage in behaviors to reassert their freedom. In an online experiment, participants set up and com...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2023-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0289017 |
| _version_ | 1797663671399219200 |
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| author | Matthew Heatherly D A Baker Casey Canfield |
| author_facet | Matthew Heatherly D A Baker Casey Canfield |
| author_sort | Matthew Heatherly |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Automation inherently removes a certain amount of user control. If perceived as a loss of freedom, users may experience psychological reactance, which is a motivational state that can lead a person to engage in behaviors to reassert their freedom. In an online experiment, participants set up and communicated with a hypothetical smart thermostat. Participants read notifications about a change in the thermostat's setting. Phrasing of notifications was altered across three dimensions: strength of authoritative language, deviation of temperature change from preferences, and whether or not the reason for the change was transparent. Authoritative language, temperatures outside the user's preferences, and lack of transparency induced significantly higher levels of reactance. However, when the system presented a temperature change outside of the user's preferences, reactance was mitigated and user acceptance was higher if the thermostat's operations were transparent. Providing justification may be less likely to induce psychological reactance and increase user acceptance. This supports efforts to use behavioral approaches, such as demand response, to increase sustainability and limit the impacts of climate change. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T19:19:06Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-67ee918bfb3b48528d6ba82c6067e133 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T19:19:06Z |
| publishDate | 2023-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj.art-67ee918bfb3b48528d6ba82c6067e1332023-10-08T05:31:00ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032023-01-01187e028901710.1371/journal.pone.0289017Don't touch that dial: Psychological reactance, transparency, and user acceptance of smart thermostat setting changes.Matthew HeatherlyD A BakerCasey CanfieldAutomation inherently removes a certain amount of user control. If perceived as a loss of freedom, users may experience psychological reactance, which is a motivational state that can lead a person to engage in behaviors to reassert their freedom. In an online experiment, participants set up and communicated with a hypothetical smart thermostat. Participants read notifications about a change in the thermostat's setting. Phrasing of notifications was altered across three dimensions: strength of authoritative language, deviation of temperature change from preferences, and whether or not the reason for the change was transparent. Authoritative language, temperatures outside the user's preferences, and lack of transparency induced significantly higher levels of reactance. However, when the system presented a temperature change outside of the user's preferences, reactance was mitigated and user acceptance was higher if the thermostat's operations were transparent. Providing justification may be less likely to induce psychological reactance and increase user acceptance. This supports efforts to use behavioral approaches, such as demand response, to increase sustainability and limit the impacts of climate change.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0289017 |
| spellingShingle | Matthew Heatherly D A Baker Casey Canfield Don't touch that dial: Psychological reactance, transparency, and user acceptance of smart thermostat setting changes. PLoS ONE |
| title | Don't touch that dial: Psychological reactance, transparency, and user acceptance of smart thermostat setting changes. |
| title_full | Don't touch that dial: Psychological reactance, transparency, and user acceptance of smart thermostat setting changes. |
| title_fullStr | Don't touch that dial: Psychological reactance, transparency, and user acceptance of smart thermostat setting changes. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Don't touch that dial: Psychological reactance, transparency, and user acceptance of smart thermostat setting changes. |
| title_short | Don't touch that dial: Psychological reactance, transparency, and user acceptance of smart thermostat setting changes. |
| title_sort | don t touch that dial psychological reactance transparency and user acceptance of smart thermostat setting changes |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0289017 |
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