Captology: Computers as Persuasive Technologies
http://captology.stanford.edu/

Do you believe you are smarter, cooler, more efficient because you own/use a cell phone? PDA? Laptop?

The folks here are trying to figure out just that. They're trying to create insight into how computing products -- from websites to mobile phone software -- can be designed to change what people believe and what they do. The goal is to create a body of expertise in the design, theory, and analysis of persuasive technologies, an area called "captology."

I stumbled across a bibliography entry for one of their articles and was curious. On the surface it may appear to be simple brand/marketing research but read on...