Consumer Skills Vocabulary

What is Authority Bias?

• The process of comparing various factors for a product or service before making a purchasing decision

• A dark pattern that makes you think you are taking a specific action, but a different, undesirable action takes place instead

• The tendency to attribute greater accuracy to the opinion of an authority figure and be more influenced by that opinion

• Website design features intended to trick users into doing things they might not want to do

What is Bait and Switch?

• A dark pattern that makes you think you are taking a specific action, but a different, undesirable action takes place instead

• The process of comparing various factors for a product or service before making a purchasing decision

• An event during which the security system for a company fails and personal information is vulnerable to hackers

• A strategy companies use to sell you an item “for free” but with expensive shipping and handling fees

What is Comparison Shopping?

• A person who purchases goods and services for personal use

• The process of comparing various factors for a product or service before making a purchasing decision

• Ads that are hidden as other kinds of content or navigation in order to get you to click on them

• The practice of initially showing consumers a lower price and then revealing additional fees at the time of payment

What is a Data Breach?

• A dark pattern where checkboxes for product, service, or shipping upgrades are ticked off by default

• An event during which the security system for a company fails and personal information is vulnerable to hackers

• Purchasing products that are created in a way that minimizes the impacts on both people and planet

• A strategy companies use to sell you an item “for free” but with expensive shipping and handling fees

What is Ethical Consumerism?

• Purchasing products that are created in a way that minimizes the impacts on both people and planet

• The practice of initially showing consumers a lower price and then revealing additional fees at the time of payment

• Website design features intended to trick users into doing things they might not want to do

• A dark pattern where checkboxes for product, service, or shipping upgrades are ticked off by default

What is the role of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)?

• To promote unfair business practices

• To protect consumers and competition

• To increase taxes on businesses

• To provide loans to small businesses

What is "Forced Continuity" in the context of dark patterns?

• A free trial that ends without warning and charges you

• A service that offers continuous updates

• A subscription that requires manual renewal

• A trial period that extends automatically for free

What does "Friend Spam" involve?

• Sending spam emails to random people

• A product sending messages to your contacts pretending to be you

• Sharing your social media posts with strangers

• Blocking your friends on social media

What is "Gamification" used for?

• To reduce time spent on a website

• To enhance website security

• To encourage spending more time and money on a website

• To simplify website navigation

What are "Hidden Fees"?

• Discounts applied at checkout

• Additional charges not apparent at the time of purchase

• Fees that are refunded after purchase

• Taxes included in the price