Safety Priming and Subsequent App Selection Behaviors

Abstract

The current Android app store requires users to search for information on the permissions requested by mobile apps. The present study sought to determine if safety priming, a manipulation shown to be effective in promoting safer app selections, would push users to look for safety-related information in the form of safety rankings when it was not readily available. We recruited participants from Amazon’s Mechanical Turk to complete an app selection task examining the effects of priming when a summary score was hidden by default, but could be shown if users selected to view it. Findings suggest that priming did not encourage users to seek out this information if it was not readily available. Further, it is concluded that safety priming is only effective if safety-related information is readily accessible. These results highlight the need to present all safety information as early as possible to ensure that it is taken into account.