B. J. Fogg

Who is B. J. Fogg?

B.J. Fogg was the first scientist to articulate the concept of "captology," a word he coined to describe the overlap between persuasion and computers.

Fogg was named in article on Fortune Magazine "10 new gurus you should know."

As a doctoral student at Stanford University, Fogg used methods from experimental psychology to demonstrate that computers can change people's thoughts and behaviors in predictable ways. His thesis was entitled "Charismatic Computers."

Fogg founded the Stanford Persuasive Technology Lab. He directed the Stanford Web Credibility Project, which published How Do People Evaluate a Web Site's Credibility? Results from a Large Study in 2002. The Lab received a grant from the National Science Foundation in 2005 to support experimental work investigating how mobile phones can motivate and persuade people, an area the lab calls "mobile persuasion." In 2003 Fogg published the book "Persuasive Technology: Using Computers to Change What We Think and Do." This book lays the foundation for captology.

In 2007, Fogg created a Stanford course about Facebook Apps. Using what Fogg calls "Mass Interpersonal Persuasion," his students engaged over 16 million people in 10 weeks with projects done for the class.