Browse Definitions :
Definition

brain hijacking

Brain hijacking is the application of principles from fields including neuroscience, behavioral psychology and sociology to develop compulsive elements for consumer technologies.

Developers created the term as a reference to the way those compelling mechanisms capture the users' attention and overcome their conscious intention. The effort is intended to make these technologies more addictive to the users so that they spend more time with them, which results in more profit for designers, content owners and marketers. Brain hijacking efforts typically focus on user interfaces, software, Mobile apps, social media, games and marketing content.

Here are some methods designed to hijack user attention:

Autoplay videos, such as those on YouTube and Netflix keep a steady flow of videos so that the user who set out to watch a single video or episode finds themselves sitting through several in a row.

Facebook uses algorithms to tailor techniques to the individual, for example identifying when a teenager might be likely to feel insecure and in need of a confidence boost.

On Snapchat, a feature called Snapstreaks encourages near-constant communication.

"Likes" for posts on social media sites can be delayed for delivery when it has been determined that the user is likely to leave the site or app, in the attempt to make them stay longer.

The intermittent delivery of rewards is a tactic borrowed from operant conditioning, where researchers discovered that giving rewards at irregular intervals was the most effective reinforcement schedule.

This was last updated in May 2018

Continue Reading About brain hijacking

Networking
  • firewall as a service (FWaaS)

    Firewall as a service (FWaaS), also known as a cloud firewall, is a service that provides cloud-based network traffic analysis ...

  • private 5G

    Private 5G is a wireless network technology that delivers 5G cellular connectivity for private network use cases.

  • NFVi (network functions virtualization infrastructure)

    NFVi (network functions virtualization infrastructure) encompasses all of the networking hardware and software needed to support ...

Security
  • virus (computer virus)

    A computer virus is a type of malware that attaches itself to a program or file. A virus can replicate and spread across an ...

  • Certified Information Security Manager (CISM)

    Certified Information Security Manager (CISM) is an advanced certification that indicates that an individual possesses the ...

  • cryptography

    Cryptography is a method of protecting information and communications using codes, so that only those for whom the information is...

CIO
  • IT project management

    IT project management is the process of planning, organizing and delineating responsibility for the completion of an ...

  • chief financial officer (CFO)

    A chief financial officer (CFO) is the corporate title for the person responsible for managing a company's financial operations ...

  • chief strategy officer (CSO)

    A chief strategy officer (CSO) is a C-level executive charged with helping formulate, facilitate and communicate an ...

HRSoftware
Customer Experience
  • martech (marketing technology)

    Martech (marketing technology) refers to the integration of software tools, platforms, and applications designed to streamline ...

  • transactional marketing

    Transactional marketing is a business strategy that focuses on single, point-of-sale transactions.

  • customer profiling

    Customer profiling is the detailed and systematic process of constructing a clear portrait of a company's ideal customer by ...

Close