Beyond Formal Consent: Protecting Consumer Autonomy Against Psychological Manipulation in Contract Law

Psychological manipulation in consumer transactions challenges the classical assumption that contractual consent reflects free and rational decision-making. Although behavioral science demonstrates that consumer choices can be shaped by cognitive biases, emotional pressure, information asymmetry, and exploitative choice architecture, Indonesian contract law primarily recognizes mistake, coercion, and fraud as defects of consent. This study examines the adequacy of existing legal protection and proposes a framework for safeguarding consumer autonomy. Using normative legal research with statutory and conceptual approaches, it analyzes relevant legislation, contract law doctrines, and behavioral theories. The findings reveal that the formal consent paradigm inadequately addresses manipulation that undermines autonomous decision-making without meeting the conventional elements of defective consent. Integrating Will Theory of Contract, behavioral economics and bounded rationality, undue influence, and misbruik van omstandigheden (abuse of circumstances), this study proposes the Consumer Autonomous Consent Protection framework. Its originality lies in conceptualizing psychological manipulation as a potential modern defect of consent and shifting legal scrutiny from formal agreement to the integrity of consumer decision-making. This framework provides a normative basis for strengthening Indonesian contract law and substantive consumer protection.