Week 5: Showing the work

Operational transparency, and the finding that people can prefer a slower service that lets them watch it work.

16 March 2027

The labour illusion is where this course stops being about perception and starts being about persuasion. Buell and Norton found people valuing a search more highly when it took longer and showed its work, with the results held identical across conditions.

The lecture is about what that licenses. Once showing effort raises perceived value, effort becomes something to display rather than something to spend, and a display can be manufactured.