Accepting cookies: Nudging, deceptive patterns and personal preference

We performed two experiments to investigate the impact of external and internal choice factors on participants’ cookie acceptance behavior. As external choice factors, we manipulated the effort required to navigate cookie consent options and the highlighting of accept or reject buttons in cookie consent banners. As internal choice factors, we measured user-related factors such as privacy concerns, age, or preferences in rational thinking and experiential thinking. Our first experiment measured participants’ cookie acceptance behavior for a single cookie banner and in our second experiment we repeatedly measured participants’ cookie acceptance behavior across twelve websites with cookie banners. We observed a strong influence of external choice factors on cookie acceptance behavior across both experiments.