Article // Psychic Economy of Algorithms and Platform Laboratory: market, science and behavior modulation

In May 2020, the article “Psychic Economy of Algorithms and Platform Laboratory: market, science and behavior modulation” written by Fernanda Bruno, Anna Bentes and Paulo Faltay was published in the journal Famecos.

Abstract: The extensive and uninterrupted tracking of our online actions integrates the mechanism of an economic investment that employs data-driven human behavior modification strategies. In this context, we observe an increase of the technoscientific, economic and social interest in algorithmic processes based on the use of psychic and emotional information. This article aims to present insights on this Psychological Economics of Algorithms, emphasizing its disturbing laboratory dimension. Analyzing recent cases and aspects of digital platform architecture, we will show how the use of this data connects three layers: the economic one; the epistemological; and the behavioral management and control. We will note that the intersection of these layers make the boundaries between the laboratory and social life extremely blurred, which displays the troubled relations between science, technology and society in this emerging scenario.