Digital Footprint and Human Behavior: Potential and Challenges

Literature Review

Digital information that tracks our online activity can say a lot about who we are as people, including our likes, dislikes, and even our psychological makeup. This is made possible by advances in hardware and software, as well as the emergence of computational social science. The study provides insights that can help target persuasive appeals to the specific psychological needs of different audiences. This allows for the manipulation of large groups of people for their own benefit. The methods used have their own benefits to help individuals make better decisions and lead healthier, happier lives. There are several potential problems with data manipulation, protection and privacy breaches. Even the most well-thought-out data protection plans may not be enough to stop the misuse of online information for psychological targeting. The importance of the government taking further action to protect its citizens cannot easily be understated.

Persuasion is a process by which one person can encourage other people to believe in and act on their viewpoint. This can be done through many number of methods, such as providing evidence, reasoning, or appealing to emotion. Mass communication is a type of persuasive activity designed to encourage large groups of people to accept a certain viewpoint or take a particular action. The advertising industry uses advertising to motivate people to adopt healthy behaviours, such as eating a balanced diet and exercising regularly. Consumer marketing also uses advertising to promote healthy behaviours, such as choosing healthy foods and products. Political campaigns also use advertising to encourage people to adopt healthy behaviours, such as voting and registering to vote. Persuasive communication is more effective when it is tailored to an individual's specific psychological traits and motivations. To obtain accurate psychological profiles of millions of users, psychologists or other communicators can use online surveys, questionnaires, and other research methods. Given the limitations imposed by data protection regulations, how can they better navigate the landscape of collective psychological persuasion? There are considerable amount of risks and potential problems associated with using highly personalized methods to persuade large numbers of people. Some risks associated with persuasion include the potential for people to be convinced to do something they don't want to do, or to do something that isn't in their best interests. Additionally, hyper-personalised mass persuasion can lead to false assumptions and inaccurate assumptions about others, which can lead to harmful actions.