Take a Deep Breath and Tell Me All About It: An Experimental Study on the Effect of Breathing on Privacy Decisions

Tawfiq Alashoor*, Andreas Blicher, Rob Gleasure

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingArticle in proceedingsResearchpeer-review

Abstract

This study investigates whether stress-relief breathing techniques can impact privacy decisions (i.e., the breavacy hypothesis). We asked 44 participants to complete a disclosure task consisting of 32 personal questions of low, moderate, and high sensitivity. Prior to the task, participants were assigned to a control condition, coherent breathing condition, or box breathing condition. The results reveal that participants in the box breathing condition disclosed the most personal information, followed by those in the coherent breathing condition, and the least disclosure in the control condition. The respiration data indicate that both coherent and box breathing increased the average respiration cycle duration—suggesting greater activation of the parasympathetic nervous system—with a more significant increase for box breathing than coherent breathing. Heart-rate data demonstrate that arousal is not affected by the breathing exercises. Our findings pave the way for new avenues of NeuroIS research exploring the relationship between breathing and privacy.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationInformation Systems and Neuroscience : NeuroIS Retreat 2023, Vienna, Austria
EditorsFred D. Davis, René Riedl, Jan vom Brocke, Pierre-Majorique Léger, Adriane B. Randolph, Gernot R. Müller-Putz
Number of pages11
Place of PublicationCham
PublisherSpringer
Publication date2024
Pages33–43
ISBN (Print)9783031583957
ISBN (Electronic)9783031583964
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2024
Event15th Anniversary NeuroIS Retreat 2023 - Vienna, Austria
Duration: 30 May 20231 Jun 2023
Conference number: 15
http://www.neurois.org/neurois-retreat-2023/

Conference

Conference15th Anniversary NeuroIS Retreat 2023
Number15
Country/TerritoryAustria
CityVienna
Period30/05/202301/06/2023
Internet address
SeriesLecture Notes in Information Systems and Organisation
Volume68
ISSN2195-4968

Keywords

  • Breathing
  • Privacy decisions
  • Breavacy hypothesis
  • NeuroIS

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