The article focuses on how people changing their answers if they perceive that the system is being affected with hopes of manipulating it as they see fit. For example, Netflix suggests movies based on what you have previously watched. If the movies it suggests are movies you don't like or wouldn't want people to know about, Are you are likely to change your queue to change what the system thinks about you? If the system has a picture of you, are you as worried about what it will say? For the paper, the authors set up a user study with a dating system to see if people changed their answers midway through and also how the picture affected it. The system displayed the same match set for everybody, regardless of how they answered, so it gave the testers a clear picture of how people try to manipulate systems. They found that people will start to change their answers if given intervals to see their progress/matches. They also found when people post a picture, they are less worried about what the text says.
I can agree with the basis of this article. Many times you will either consciously or subconsciously alter your decisions to get the system to say what you want it to. I've noticed this on netflix, for example when I rented Night at the Museum, it suggested all kinds of family movies including Disney kid's things. I'm not sure what prompted it, but I think the next one I got was Rambo.
My Dating Site Thinks I'm a Loser: effects of personal photos and presentation intervals on perceptions of recommender systems
This reminds me of the personality and aptitude tests you would take in high school. At some point during the test most people realized that they could manipulate the test to achieve their desired result. It's an interesting study, but in the end I guess people will try to get what they want even if it's not in their best interest.
ReplyDeleteI do this all the time with Netflix. I want to make sure I'm not cheated out so its almost a necessity.
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