Week 13 Day 3 — Human Factors, Technology, Persuasion & Ethical Design

1 · Retrieval Warm-Up

Retrieval Warm-Up

Without notes, write one idea you already know that might connect to Human Factors, Technology, Persuasion & Ethical Design. Then write one question the lesson should help you answer.

2 · Essential Question

Essential Question

How can psychology improve design without becoming manipulation?

3 · Learning Objectives

Learning Objectives

Students will be able to:

define human factors and explain how perception, attention, memory, and workload affect design;
identify cognitive load, error likelihood, defaults, salience, and feedback in interfaces;
distinguish persuasion from coercion and transparent influence from deceptive design;
identify privacy and autonomy concerns in behavior-shaping technologies;
evaluate design claims without assuming user behavior equals free preference.

4 · Psychology Word of the Day

human factors

Use it in context: Explain how human factors connects to today’s evidence, measure, or explanation. Do not treat knowing the word as the same thing as understanding the construct.

5 · Vocabulary in Context

Vocabulary in Context

human factors · cognitive load · affordance · feedback · default · salience · persuasive design · dark pattern · autonomy · privacy · accessibility · error prevention

6 · Core Reading

Substantial Core Reading

Human factors begins with a simple idea: systems should be designed around real human attention, memory, perception, movement, and error patterns rather than assuming perfect users. Good design can reduce mistakes, clarify choices, and improve accessibility.

The same psychological knowledge can also be used to influence behavior. Students examine defaults, notifications, friction, social proof, and salience. Influence is not automatically unethical, but ethical design asks who benefits, whether the user understands the choice, whether privacy is protected, whether opting out is realistic, and whether the system exploits known vulnerabilities.

7 · Worked Example

Worked Example / Synthesis

A website makes “Accept” large and bright while hiding “Decline” behind several screens.

Students analyze:

salience;
friction;
default pressure;
user autonomy;
whether consent is meaningfully informed.

8 · Scientist's Desk

Psychological Scientist's Desk

Claim: “If users click the button, they chose freely.”

Students identify how design context can shape probability without eliminating agency.

9 · Data Lens

Data Lens

Students compare task-completion time and error rate across two fictional interface designs. They distinguish speed from accuracy and discuss accessibility as a separate outcome rather than assuming one best metric.

10 · Claims Laboratory

Claims Laboratory

Evaluate:

“Good design makes people do the right thing.”
“A default is neutral because users can change it.”
“More notifications increase engagement, so they improve the product.”
“If behavior changes, manipulation occurred.”
“Privacy concerns disappear if data are useful.”

11 · Guided Investigation

Guided Investigation

Build a Claim → Measure → Evidence → Alternative Explanation → Limitation → Conclusion map for Human Factors, Technology, Persuasion & Ethical Design.

11A · Extended Inquiry

Extended Inquiry from the Locked Plan

Psychology Word of the Day

human factors — the application of psychological and behavioral science to design systems, tools, and environments that fit human abilities and limitations.

Guided Investigation

Apply Human Factors, Technology, Persuasion & Ethical Design to a fictional or de-identified case. Separate observation from interpretation, identify the psychological concept that best explains the pattern, compare at least two possible explanations, and state what additional evidence would be needed before favoring one explanation. Record one ethical boundary that limits what can responsibly be inferred.

Ethical Interface Audit

Students inspect a fictional app screen and identify:

intended behavior;
psychological principle used;
user benefit;
designer/platform benefit;
transparency level;
privacy cost;
accessibility issue;
alternative design preserving more autonomy.

Completion Challenge

Optional after completion. Best fit: One-Round Grid, Color Match Minute, or Doodle Break.

12 · Independent Assignment

Independent Assignment

Redesign one fictional school or study interface using human-factors principles. Explain how the redesign reduces cognitive load or error while preserving autonomy and accessibility.

13 · Research Notebook

Research Notebook Checkpoint

If the semester application involves technology or persuasion, add:

target behavior;
mechanism of influence;
transparency requirement;
privacy risk;
accessibility concern;
one design alternative with less coercive pressure.

14 · Academic Journal

Academic Journal Reflection

When does helping people make a decision become unfairly steering them?

Privacy boundary: The journal is academic, not therapeutic. Fictional, public, non-sensitive, or course-supplied examples are always acceptable.

15 · Daily Review

5-question formative check

1. Which statement best captures today's central idea about Human Factors, Technology, Persuasion & Ethical Design? A single observation proves a fixed trait in every person. Human factors begins with a simple idea: systems should be designed around real human attention, memory, perception, movement, and error patterns rather than assuming perfect users. A psychological label explains behavior without measurement. Alternative explanations can be ignored once a claim sounds plausible.

2. Which task best matches today's Data Lens for Human Factors, Technology, Persuasion & Ethical Design? Choose the most dramatic anecdote and treat it as a population estimate. Remove units and labels so the graph is easier to read. Students compare task-completion time and error rate across two fictional interface designs. Use one participant to diagnose an entire group.

3. Which response best applies Human Factors, Technology, Persuasion & Ethical Design to today's independent task while staying within the evidence? Replace the assignment with an unsupported personal diagnosis. State a conclusion before identifying evidence. Treat correlation as automatic proof of causation. Redesign one fictional school or study interface using human-factors principles.

4. How should the Psychological Scientist's Desk handle a strong claim about Human Factors, Technology, Persuasion & Ethical Design? Define what the claim predicts, identify a measure, compare evidence, consider alternatives, and calibrate the conclusion. Accept it if it sounds intuitive. Reject every claim that has any limitation. Use confidence as a substitute for evidence.

5. Which conclusion is most scientifically responsible after today's work on Human Factors, Technology, Persuasion & Ethical Design? Generalize a group average to every individual. State only what the evidence supports and name an important limitation or uncertainty. Treat a measure as identical to the construct itself. Assume one plausible explanation must be the only explanation.

80% meets today’s completion threshold; weekly mastery comes only from the Week 13 assessment.

16 · Local Completion Record

Review status

Not yet marked reviewed

17 · Optional Completion Challenge

Challenge unlocked

This optional local activity is separate from mastery and is never used to profile ability, personality, motivation, or mental health.

Open Challenge