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Title: Dark patterns and neurodiversity: the impact of harmful defaults in vulnerable consumer groups

Abstract: Little is known about whether vulnerable consumers are disproportionately affected by harmful ‘dark’ defaults in online shopping contexts. We provide some of the first results on their differential impact in neurodivergent individuals. Three studies compared the effects of ‘preselection’ and ‘mimicking’ defaults in four groups: (1) neurotypical (NT); (2) dyslexic; (3) ADHD; (4) autistic. For all individuals, defaults more than double the opt-in rate to harmful schemes in most cases. Dyslexic individuals are more likely to opt into exploitative schemes than NTs, in some cases by more than a factor of two. Results for individuals with ADHD are mixed and depend on task context, while autistic individuals may be better at avoiding opt-in compared to NTs in some cases. Secondary analyses on optimal product selection suggest individuals with dyslexia or ADHD struggle more than NTs to select the cheapest product when faced with a long list of valid alternatives.