Prosocial Tech Design
Tech platform designs are not neutral. How a platform is designed can steer human behavior toward either antisocial or prosocial responses. The design choices tech companies make influence whether people can understand and feel empathy toward each other — and unfortunately, the design of many major tech platforms amplify polarization, disinformation, and other information disorders.
Technology design influences:
- What we are allowed to do
- What we are prevented from doing
- What we are persuaded or incentivized to do
- What is amplified and highlighted
- What is manipulated or deceives us to do
The PTAP Lab works to find prosocial tech designs that support social cohesion, a widely used term for the glue that holds society together. Social cohesion includes three dimensions:
- Individual agency to participate in civic life
- Intergroup trust between social groups to protect human dignity and pluralism
- Public trust between citizens and institutions
As of 2025 and with the support of Notre Dame undergraduate and graduate students, the PTAP Lab is producing several new publications outlining tiers of prosocial design. The Lab's research on prosocial platform design began in 2021 with more than 50 interviews conducted with technologists on the impact of tech design on social cohesion. The interviews led to a landmark conference in February 2023, Designing Technology for Social Cohesion, whereby 10 Notre Dame students participated and interacted with more than 300 technologists and civil society peacebuilding experts.
To highlight how technology companies can better support social cohesion, PTAP Lab director Lisa Schirch is writing the forthcoming book, Redesigning Digital Public Squares: How Civictech and Peacetech can Jumpstart Democracy.
Related Publications
Social Media Impacts on Conflict and Democracy: The Tech-tonic Shift. Edited by L. Schirch. Sydney: Routledge, April 2021.
L. Schirch. "Digital Peacebuilding and Peacetech." in Information Technology for Peace and Security. Ed. Christian Reuter. New York: Springer, 2024.
L. Schirch. The Case for Designing Tech for Social Cohesion: The Limits of Content Moderation and Tech Regulation. Yale Journal of Law and Humanities. Vol 32. 2023.
Schirch, L. “The Digital Space and Peace Processes.” Geneva: Interpeace, Fondation Hirondelle, ICT4Peace Foundation. May 2022
L Schirch. Ravi Iyer, Lena Slachmuijlder. Toward Prosocial Tech Design Governance, Tech Policy Press. 14 December 2023.
L. Schirch. Executive Summary of The Case for Designing Tech for Social Cohesion. Published by Search for Common Ground for the February 2023 conference.
L. Schirch. The Road to Hell is Paved in Code: Designing Tech for Peace. Nuance. Fall 2023.