The Privacy Mismatch: Evolved Intuitions in a Digital World

Abstract

Although people report grave concern over their data privacy, they take little care to protect it. We suggest that this privacy paradox can be understood in part as the consequence of an evolutionary mismatch: Privacy intuitions evolved in an environment that was radically different from the one found online. This evolved privacy psychology leaves people disconnected from the consequence of online privacy threats.

Subscriptions versus one-off purchases: the impact of fee-charging models on consumer privacy concerns

“…Scholars have suggested multiple market-related practices affecting consumers' concerns about privacy violations in service interactions, even when these practices are not directly related to information handling (Phelps et al, 2000;Smith et al, 2011;Martin and Murphy, 2017). Service IJBM 41,4 providers' behaviors reflect their characteristics, in turn affecting consumers' perceived likelihood of their engagement with privacy violation activities (Smith et al, 1996;Shariff et al, 2021). The findings of this paper indicate that the choice of a particular fee-charging model serves a similar role.…”

“…Service providers’ behaviors reflect their characteristics, in turn affecting consumers’ perceived likelihood of their engagement with privacy violation activities (Smith et al. , 1996; Shariff et al. , 2021).…”

Freedom and Constraint in Digital Environments: Implications for the Self

“…Some scholars argue that people reveal personal information online because the perceived benefits of doing so outweigh the perceived costs (Bol et al, 2018;Dienlin & Metzger, 2016). Other scholars have a less optimistic take, arguing that digital environments exploit people's evolved psychological vulnerabilities through design choices that obfuscate the extent of privacy violations (Acquisti et al, 2020(Acquisti et al, , 2022Bösch et al, 2016;Shariff et al, 2021).…”

Performance, Well-Being, Motivation, and Identity in an Age of Abundant Data: Introduction to the “Well-Measured Life” Special Issue of Current Directions in Psychological Science

“…A review (Kröger et al, 2019) has shown how these data can be used to provide information about a user's passwords, inebriation, age, gender, weight, smoking, driving behavior, and sleep quality. Our naturally evolved impulses toward self-protection, rooted in ownership, personal space, and reputation management, are often not triggered by modern measurement devices because the measurements are taken without users' awareness (Shariff et al, 2021). Consequently, users may not take steps to protect their privacy despite the value they place on it.…”