B. J. Fogg
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
B.J. Fogg is best known for promoting the concept of "captology," a word he coined to describe the overlap between persuasion and computers.
As a doctoral student at Stanford University (1993-1997), Fogg used methods from experimental psychology to demonstrate that computers can change people's thoughts and behaviors in predictable ways. His thesis was entitled "Charismatic Computers."
Fogg founded the Persuasive Technology Lab at Stanford. The Lab received a grant from the National Science Foundation in 2005 to support experimental work investigating how mobile phones can motivate and persuade people, an area the lab calls "mobile persuasion."
In 2003 Fogg published the book "Persuasive Technology: Using Computers to Change What We Think and Do." This book lays the foundation for captology.
Fogg has also held full-time positions at Interval Research, HP Labs, Sun Microsystems, and Casio Research.
In 2003, shortly after publishing his book, Fogg began investigating how computers can help people develop close personal relationships. This work has led to a startup and Internet service YackPack. YackPack is designed to support behavior that enhances personal relationships and increases team unity and understanding.
