Beyond Trust: Psychological Considerations for Recommender Systems

The issue of trust is important in recommender systems. These systems are typically described in terms of perceived reliability of the recommender coupled with a content quality perspective. However, most studies do not address the complete user context and psychological environment of a recommender system. This environment and context are described here by three primary areas of consideration, which are cognitive dissonance, persuasion from social psychology, and flow and presentation. Cognitive dissonance provides resistance to mental change, forms the core of psychological aspects, and informs persuasion. Dissonance can be countered or leveraged in recommender systems to enhance persuasion and provide a more effective system. Emotional responses are important for persuasion, so recommender systems should incorporate the integration of flow, social links, similar user recommenders, enhanced user profiles, and use of imagery to create more successful implementations. This paper reviews these aspects of psychology and their impact on recommender systems.