Captology

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The examination of how digital interfaces can shape human actions through persuasive techniques
2. A discipline dedicated to understanding the impact of technology on behavior via intentional design methods
3. The study of the influence that technology, especially persuasive digital interfaces, has on human behavior and decision-making processes

Etymology: Captology was coined in 1996 by the American behavior scientist B. J. Fogg, who needed a name for the study of computers as tools of persuasion. He built it from an acronym: the initials of "computers as persuasive technologies," which spell C-A-P-T, followed by the familiar suffix "-ology," meaning "the study of." The result is a word that reads like a discipline name while hiding the phrase that defines it. The coinage is a deliberate piece of wordplay in which the acronym does the work of a phrase. Fogg's choice made the field's central idea, that software can change what people believe and do, compact enough to serve as a label. The word stays close to its origin: it names the study of one specific kind of technology rather than technology in general.