Socially-oriented persuasive strategies: social learning, upward social comparison, and competition.¶

Design · All designs
Evidence · 2 claims (2 for) · 1 study (1 causal), q3 · 1 of 1 report an effect size · 2 claims rest on one study

Description¶

The article defines "socially-oriented strategies" as "a class of persuasive strategies that provoke an intentional or unintentional change in an individual attitude or behaviour due to the influence of other people," drawing on social influence theory and Social Learning Theory. The three examined strategies are upward social comparison, in which people "compare themselves to similar others who are performing well"; social learning, where "the user learns through observation, imitation, and modelling the behaviour of others"; and competition, typically implemented as a leaderboard where users "can see their position relative to that of their peers." These strategies come from the Persuasive Systems Design Model's "social support" category of seven strategies.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

A mechanism for informing users of the actions or performance of other users, such as social visualization, so that users can compare with, align with, or compete with others

Constraints¶

The article notes these three strategies are commonly used in persuasive technology and have been shown successful at encouraging users in performing specific tasks, which is why they were chosen

Target Learners¶

Students in blended and online higher-education courses

Learning Goals¶

Motivating students to engage actively in learning activities

Claims¶

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

Orji, F. A., Greer, J., & Vassileva, J. (2021). Evaluating a Persuasive Intervention for Engagement in a Large University Class. International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40593-021-00260-4

Page metadata

Field	Value
`type`	`design`
`id`	`socially-oriented-persuasive-strategies`
`title`	`Socially-oriented persuasive strategies: social learning, upward social comparison, and competition.`
`description`	`The article defines "socially-oriented strategies" as "a class of persuasive strategies that provoke an intentional or unintentional change in an individual attitude or behaviour due to the influence of other people,"...`
`status`	`review`
`generated`	by `process:settle-candidates` on `2026-10-28`
`trust`	unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content
`sources`	1 — `orji-2021`

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