Friction Injection for Behavior Suppression
To make people do less of something, add logistical AND cognitive friction at the moment of the hot decision.
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~weeks to results
- Steps
- 4
- Confidence
- 92%
The inverse of standard product design. When you want more of a behavior you make it easier; when you want less of one, you put barriers in the way. The strongest version pairs a logistical slow-down (a delay, an extra tap) with a cognitive one (a prompt that forces the user to reconsider a decision they've already made) — and it must fire at the exact moment of the behavior, not before or after.
Origin
Applied by Kristen Berman's Irrational Labs at TikTok to reduce misinformation sharing. It draws on two published literatures she credits: the 'accuracy prompt' research (reminding people of their own value of accuracy at the point of sharing) and the hot-state/cold-state literature on intervening in high-arousal decisions. The elevator-door study (lengthening the close delay by 16 seconds to push people to the stairs) is the canonical illustration.
Core principles
- 01When you want someone to do something more you make it easier; when you want someone to do something less you put up barriers.
- 02Most people actually don't want to share misinformation — the value is already there, it just isn't salient in the moment.
- 03Timing is the whole intervention: the accuracy reminder doesn't work before or after, only at the point of sharing.
- 04Fast platforms put users in a hot state. Slowing them down is itself the mechanism.
How to run it
- 1
Narrow to the one behavior you want less of
Don't target 'misinformation' or 'general engagement'. Irrational Labs picked shares specifically — not likes, not comments — as the single behavior to suppress.
Watch out A broad target ('reduce toxicity') gives you nothing to place friction on.
- 2
Add logistical friction at the decision point
Insert a delay or an extra tap between intent and action. In the elevator study, researchers made the elevator door close 16 seconds later — long enough to be annoying — and people took the stairs.
Pro tip Calibrate the delay so it is felt but not enraging. 16 seconds standing there twiddling your thumbs is the reference point.
- 3
Add cognitive friction that forces reconsideration
Prompt the user to question a decision they've already made. TikTok's version: after tapping share on a flagged video, a pop-up asking 'are you sure?'.
Pro tip Pair it with an informational label on the content itself ('unverified information') so the reconsideration has something to attach to.
- 4
Fire it at the moment of the behavior
Deliver the prompt exactly at the point of action. Reminding people about accuracy before or after sharing has been shown not to work.
In the wild
TikTok asked Irrational Labs to reduce the spread of misinformation. They narrowed the behavior to shares, then shipped two interventions: an 'unverified information' label on the video, plus an 'are you sure?' pop-up after the share button was tapped — combining logistical friction (slowing a fast, hot-state platform) with cognitive friction (forcing reconsideration of a prior decision).
→ Shares of flagged content dropped 24%. It became one of the first published studies showing the effect, and the feature shipped globally; Facebook and Twitter use comparable slow-down tactics.
Researchers wanting people to take the stairs simply made the elevator door take 16 seconds longer to close. No signage, no persuasion, no health messaging.
→ People switched to the stairs — the friction did the work the exhortation couldn't.
Common mistakes
Relying on labels alone
A content label is only cognitive input. The measured 24% drop came from the label plus the interruption at the moment of sharing. The pairing is the mechanism.
Intervening outside the hot moment
Accuracy reminders delivered before or after the share do not change behavior. If the prompt isn't at the point of the decision, it isn't an intervention — it's a message.
Is it for you?
Best for
Platform, trust-and-safety, or wellbeing teams trying to reduce a specific harmful in-product action without banning it outright.
Not ideal for
Behaviors you want more of — here friction is destructive — or any surface where a delay would break a genuinely time-critical user task.
From the transcript
“get something to do something more you make it easier when you want someone to do something less you may get put up barriers what…”
“the second thing was once you click the share button we popped up something that said are you sure and this was basically slowing people…”
“cognitive friction because we're asking people to reconsider a prior decision and question their their self and so with that both those things the label…”
“if you can remind people the point of sharing by the way it doesn't”
From the episode
Using behavioral science to improve your product
Kristen Berman (Irrational Labs)