Promoting Ethical Technology Design Practices by Leveraging Human Psychology

The design of technology can result in unintended and unethical consequences. Despite a recent upswing in interventions for enabling more ethical technology design, however, there is little empirical evidence on which strategies work and why. In this review and provocation, we detail how research on the psychology of belief and behavior change can help shift ethical culture within technology design teams, organizations, and the industry more broadly. We suggest three approaches, each supported by empirical evidence: (1) questioning intuitive assumptions, (2) highlighting system complexity, and (3) targeting social and organizational structures. Crucially, these three approaches rely on both individual and social mechanisms, and we propose that effective strategies will make use of the interdependence between individuals' beliefs and their social behavior to change the broader culture of ethical technology design. We provide ten suggestions that teams and organizations can implement to foster more ethical behavior and conclude with next steps.