Mindmasters
Key insights from a recent discussion organised by Harvard Business Review about ‘Mindmasters’, a book by Sandra Matz, Associate Professor of Business at Columbia Business School, on the data-driven science of predicting and changing human behaviour.
Whether we like it or not, technology is now permeating many aspects of our lives, bringing about a unique set of opportunities and challenges. In ‘Mindmasters’, Sandra Matz uses a mix of real-life examples and research-based insights to reflect on the increasingly important role played by psychological targeting in predicting individuals’ profiles based on their digital footprint.
As a starting point to explain the complicated relationship between human psychology and data-driven science, Matz drew parallels between the workings of algorithms and her personal experience growing up in a small village, where everyone usually knows everything there is to know about their neighbours or other members of the community. Similarly, online engines can now be seen as our digital neighbours who know us very well. Our digital presence and online behaviours are a very insightful expression of who we are, what we think and what we like. Therefore, algorithms have excellent access to our minds and can play a significant role in influencing our choices and opinions, by predicting and potentially changing our behaviours.
According to Matz, provided that the insights gathered are accurate and truly representative of one’s profile, they can offer a great opportunity to find new, more effective solutions to solve some of our key issues or to respond to specific needs across different key sectors like health and well-being, for example. In the same way in which a supportive community can thrive by encouraging the communication and collaboration between its members and the sharing of knowledge and experiences, data-driven science can help us develop even more tailored societal support and welfare, and empower us to make more informed decisions and acquire relevant knowledge more easily.
On the other hand, scandals like the one about Cambridge Analytica expose the potential risks linked to this. In cases of malpractice, data can be used to control and manipulate our choices and our opinions, with a significant impact on different aspects of our lives from what we decided to buy to how we cast our vote. Matz discusses the need to regulate these practices, something that will require time and excellent policy making. However, if we successfully manage to implement a regulatory framework, we will be in a position to fully benefit from the enormous potential that data-driven science offers and, in the author’s words, ‘even be able to regain mastery of our lives’ by taking control of our data and creating a new, perhaps more powerful, sense of community and of collective decision making.
Valentina Lorenzon is a member of the CMCE Coordination group and editor of the CMCE newsletter.
