How mobile app design impacts user responses to mixed self-tracking outcomes: Randomized online experiment to explore the role of spatial distance for hedonic editing

Publikation: Beiträge in ZeitschriftenZeitschriftenaufsätzeForschungbegutachtet

Authors

Background: Goal setting is among the most common behavioral change techniques employed in contemporary self-tracking apps. For these techniques to be effective, it is relevant to understand how the visual presentation of goal-related outcomes employed in the app design affects users’ responses to their self-tracking outcomes. Objective: This study examined whether a spatially close (vs distant) presentation of mixed positive and negative self-tracking outcomes from multiple domains (ie, activity, diet) on a digital device’s screen can provide users the opportunity to hedonically edit their self-tracking outcome profile (ie, to view their mixed self-tracking outcomes in the most positive light). Further, this study examined how the opportunity to hedonically edit one’s self-tracking outcome profile relates to users’ future health behavior intentions. Methods: To assess users’ responses to a spatially close (vs distant) presentation of a mixed-gain (vs mixed-loss) self-tracking outcome profile, a randomized 2×2 between-subjects online experiment with a final sample of 397 participants (mean age 27.4, SD 7.2 years; 71.5%, 284/397 female) was conducted in Germany. The experiment started with a cover story about a fictitious self-tracking app. Thereafter, participants saw one of four manipulated self-tracking outcome profiles. Variables of interest measured were health behavior intentions, compensatory health beliefs, health motivation, and recall of the outcome profile. We analyzed data using chi-square tests (SPSS version 23) and moderated mediation analyses with the PROCESS macro 2.16.1. Results: Spatial distance facilitated hedonic editing, which was indicated by systematic memory biases in users’ recall of positive and negative self-tracking outcomes. In the case of a mixed-gain outcome profile, a spatially close (vs distant) presentation tended to increase the underestimation of the negative outcome (P=.06). In the case of a mixed-loss outcome profile, a spatially distant (vs close) presentation facilitated the exact recognition of the positive outcome (P=.04). When the presentation of self-tracking outcomes provided the opportunity for hedonic editing, users with a low (vs high) health motivation produced compensatory health beliefs, which led to lower health behavior intentions (index of moderated mediation=0.0352, 95% CI 0.0011-0.0923). Conclusions: When spatial distance between the presentations of mixed self-tracking outcomes provided the opportunity to hedonically edit one’s self-tracking outcome profile, users recalled their self-tracking outcomes in a more positive light. Especially for users with lower health motivation, the opportunity to hedonically edit one’s mixed self-tracking outcome profile led to reduced health behavior intentions. To prevent the occurrence of hedonic editing in users’ responses to visually presented self-tracking outcome profiles, further research is necessary to determine the ideal distance that should be employed in the app design for the presentation of mixed self-tracking outcomes on a digital device’s screen.

OriginalspracheEnglisch
Aufsatznummere81
ZeitschriftJMIR mHealth and uHealth
Jahrgang6
Ausgabenummer4
Anzahl der Seiten13
ISSN2291-5222
DOIs
PublikationsstatusErschienen - 11.04.2018
Extern publiziertJa

Bibliographische Notiz

Publisher Copyright:
© Monika Imschloss, Jana Lorenz.

DOI

Zuletzt angesehen

Publikationen

  1. Hydrograph analysis and basef low separation
  2. Ten essentials for action-oriented and second order energy transitions, transformations and climate change research
  3. Understanding and Supporting Management Decision-Making
  4. Doing space in face-to-face interaction and on interactive multimodal platforms
  5. Conditions of One-Way and Two-Way Approaches in Strategic Start-Up Communication
  6. Downsizing, Ideology and Contracts
  7. Collaborative modelling for active involvement of stakeholders in urban flood risk management
  8. Effectiveness of the world network of biosphere reserves in maintaining forest ecosystem functions
  9. Using the Domestication Approach for the Analysis of Diffusion and Participation Processes of New Media
  10. Development and characterisation of a new interface for coupling capillary LC with collision-cell ICPMS and its application for phosphorylation profiling of tryptic protein digests
  11. Interplay of formative assessment and instructional quality—interactive effects on students’ mathematics achievement
  12. Trajectories optimisation for electrical vehicles driven by a three-phase synchronous motor
  13. Optimizing price levels in e-commerce applications
  14. Do You Like What You (Can't) See? The Differential Effects of Hardware and Software Upgrades on High-Tech Product Evaluations
  15. Using Long-Duration Static Stretch Training to Counteract Strength and Flexibility Deficits in Moderately Trained Participants
  16. Exploring Difficult History Lessons, Identity Construction, the Artistic Expansion of Sitcom Storytelling Tools in the Black-ish Episode, "Juneteenth"
  17. Modeling the cost-effectiveness of health care systems for alcohol use disorders
  18. Advancing research on ecosystem service bundles for comparative assessments and synthesis
  19. Establishment age and wages
  20. An Integrative and Comprehensive Methodology for Studying Aesthetic Experience in the Field
  21. The polarity field concept
  22. Sowing density
  23. Analysis of ammonia losses after field application of biogas slurries by an empirical model
  24. Klimapaket
  25. Effects of Soil Properties, Temperature and Disturbance on Diversity and Functional Composition of Plant Communities Along a Steep Elevational Gradient on Tenerife
  26. Managing information in the case of opinion spamming
  27. Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA)-main concerns and regulatory developments in Europe from an environmental point of view
  28. Harmony at the Workplace
  29. Liquidity, Flows, Circulation
  30. Introducing the cycling anger scale
  31. Spacing organization: non-representational theory and performing organizational space