Ethics of Behaviour Change Technologies

Joel Anderson is Professor of Moral Psychology and Social Philosophy at the Ethics Institute in the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies of Utrecht University, the Netherlands. In his work, he develops a relational and intersubjectivist conception of autonomy, a recognitional account of critical social theory, an "extended" approach to self-regulation and disability studies, and a social ethics of technology. He is currently working on a book on "Autonomy Gaps" and editing a collection about how technology is "Disrupting the Human." He is also a principal investigator in the research consortium Ethics of Socially Disruptive Technologies (ESDiT.nl).Lily E. Frank is Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Ethics at Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands. Her research encompasses biomedical ethics, biotechnology, moral psychology, and ethics of technology. Currently, she investigates topics such as moral expertise, the moralization of health conditions, and the interplay between technology and moral progress. She also explores reproductive ethics, including issues like abortion and the development of artificial uteruses. Frank serves as a Senior Researcher at the 4TU Center for Ethics and Technology and is a board member of the TU/e Center for Humans and Technology. Andreas Spahn is Associate Professor in the Philosophy and Ethics research group at the Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands. He has worked and published on ethics of behaviour change technologies and persuasive technologies, ethics of energy systems, and environmental ethics, as well as on the role of ethics in engineering education. Spahn is a member of the management team and senior researchers in the 4TU Center for Ethics and Technology, as well as in the ESDiT research program on Ethics of Socially Disruptive Technologies.

The ethics of developing and using scientific understanding to influence human behaviour is something every researcher, practitioner and user of behavioural science must have at the forefront of our minds. This excellent book takes readers expertly through discussions on the key issues that arise, including respect for autonomy, privacy, transparency and responsibility.

• Introduction: The Ethical Landscape of Behaviour Change TechnologyJoel Anderson (Utrecht University, the Netherlands), Lily E. Frank (Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands), Andreas Spahn (Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands) and Arianna Sica (Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands)Part I. Foundations1. Psychology of Behaviour ChangeWokje Abrahamse (Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand) and Nadja Contzen (The Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Switzerland)Chapter 2. Technologies of Behaviour ChangeHarri Oinas-Kukkonen (University of Oulu, Finland) and Eunice E.Y.F. Agyei (University of Oulu, Finland) Chapter 3. Guiding Hands or Invisible Chains? On the Ethics and Philosophy of Behaviour Change TechnologiesAndreas Spahn (Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands) and Lily E. Frank (Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands) Part II. Values and PrinciplesChapter 4. Control, Personal Autonomy, and Behaviour Change TechnologiesSven Nyholm (Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany)Chapter 5. Transparency and Trust in Behaviour Change TechnologiesPhilip J. Nickel (Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands)Chapter 6. Privacy, Consent, and Behaviour Change TechnologiesTitus Stahl (University of Groningen, the Netherlands)Chapter 7. Social Justice, Autonomous Agency, and Interpersonal RecognitionJoel Anderson (Utrecht University, the Netherlands)Part III. Cases and ApplicationsChapter 8. Limiting Driver Autonomy for Safety and SustainabilityJilles Smids (Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands)Chapter 9. ’Good Patients Manage Their Health’: A Critical Conceptual Analysis of the Patient as Health Manager Using Smart Technology Tania Moerenhout (University of Otago, New Zealand) and Katleen Gabriels (Maastricht University, the Netherlands)Chapter 10. The Ethics of Using Boosts to Change BehaviourTill Grüne-Yanoff (Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden)Chapter 11. The Cumulative Impact of Behaviour Change InterventionsWill Tiemeijer (Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands)Chapter 12. Pandemic Behaviour Change Technology, Autonomy, and Confucian Philosophy: The Case of Jiankangma (China’s Digital Health Code)Tom Xiaowei Wang (Renmin University of China, China) and Pak-Hang Wong (Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong)Chapter 13. Behaviour Change, Technology, and the Regulation of the Poor: A Case Study of the ‘Water Wars’ in South AfricaBrendon R. Barnes (University of Johannesburg, South Africa)IndexAbout the Contributors