How cognitive biases influence user’s decisions

We build a 52 cards deck to present cognitive biases.
These cards were created for teaching purposes. They help team members become aware of their own biases and the different biases they can induce, whether on purpose or not, to users.
They can also be used as a cheat sheet and as “reminder cards” while designing. You can use them in small workshops with your coworkers to raise awareness among your team.
The print cards: https://stephaniewalter.design/blog/52-ux-cards-to-discover-cognitive-biases/
The Miro board: https://miro.com/app/board/o9J_lTAfbaE=/?moveToWidget=3074457354758140100&cot=14

Contact us if you want us to present the cards and the workshop at your event :) (mail on the last slide)

Transcript

1. How cognitive
   biases
   influence user’s
   decisions
   UX in LUX @ UXGA 2021
   

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2. Welcome to the webinar!
   We are UX designers and we (usually)
   propose UX workshops in Luxembourg!
   
   

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3. 🦄
   

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4. What’s the plan?
   1. What are cognitive biases?
   2. It’s scary, so we created some cards
   3. Going further...
   Schedule
   🦄
   

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5. What are cognitive
   biases?
   01
   
   

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7. Ok, thank you for coming,
   enjoy your weekend :D
   
   

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8. Cognitive biases are psychological
   tendencies that cause the human brain to
   draw incorrect conclusions.
   For better or worse, we can use them in
   many different ways to influence user
   behavior on your websites and apps.
   Definition
   
   

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9. 🦄
   

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10. “ IF I don’t book now, there will not be
    any room left for me 😱
    (Scarcity + loss aversion)
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11. “Other people booked it, maybe I
    should book it too”
    (Bandwagon effect)
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12. As designers (and as customers), it’s also
    interesting to be aware of such biases. For
    instance, some of them might influence your
    user research without you even knowing it.
    Definition
    
    

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13. A 52 cognitive biases
    card deck
    02
    
    

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15. A 52 cards deck you can
    print and use
    An online webapp list
    to help you
    inpx.it/52-cards inpx.it/cobias-webapp
    
    

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16. A few examples
    01
    🦄
    

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17. Decision-making
    & behavior
    These biases affect
    people's
    decision-making
    abilities, behaviour and
    the decisions they make
    based on the different
    information they get.
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18. Anchoring
    The tendency for people
    to depend too heavily on
    an initial piece of
    information offered
    (considered to be the
    "anchor") when making
    decisions. Those objects
    near the anchor tend to
    be assimilated toward it
    and those further away
    tend to be displaced in
    the other direction.
    
    

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20. IKEA Effect
    The tendency for people
    to place a
    disproportionately high
    value on objects that
    they partially assembled
    themselves, such as
    furniture from IKEA,
    regardless of the quality
    of the end product.
    🦄
    

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21. Thinking &
    problem solving
    These biases can change
    the way people think or
    solve problems and lead
    them to come up with
    wrong conclusions.
    
    

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22. Fear of Missing
    out
    The fear experienced by
    individuals when faced
    with the thought that
    they might miss out on a
    social occasion, a new
    experience, a profitable
    investment or a satisfying
    event.
    This social anxiety is
    characterized by a desire
    to stay continually
    connected with what
    others are doing.
    
    

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24. Bandwagon
    effect
    The tendency to do (or
    believe) things because
    many other people
    already do (or believe)
    the same.
    The bandwagon effect is
    characterized by the
    probability of individual
    adoption increasing with
    respect to the proportion
    who have already done
    so.
    🦄
    

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25. Bandwagon
    effect
    🦄
    

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26. Memories &
    recalling
    These biases can
    influence choices by
    either enhancing or
    impairing the recall of a
    memory or altering the
    content of a reported
    memory.
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27. Primacy effect
    Items near the end of a
    sequence are the easiest
    to recall, followed by the
    items at the beginning of
    a sequence; items in the
    middle are the least likely
    to be remembered.
    
    

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28. Bizarreness
    effect
    Bizarre material is better
    remembered than
    common material.
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29. Interview & user
    testing
    These biases can directly
    influence designer,
    during interviews or user
    testing, and may change
    the outcome of our
    research.
    They influence the
    behaviour of people we
    interview or people who
    will test your products
    and services.
    
    

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30. Courtesy bias
    The tendency to give an
    opinion that is more
    socially correct than
    one's true opinion, so as
    to avoid offending
    anyone.
    
    

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31. Negativity bias
    Psychological
    phenomenon by which
    humans have a greater
    recall of unpleasant
    memories compared with
    positive memories.
    
    

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32. Team work,
    social &
    meetings
    These biases can change
    the way groups of people
    work collectively and
    interact with each other,
    whether in a meeting
    room or in their daily lives
    in general.
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33. "Not invented
    here" NIH
    Aversion to contact with
    or use of already existing
    products, research,
    standards, or knowledge
    developed outside a
    group because of their
    external origins and
    costs, such as royalties.
    Research illustrates a
    strong bias against ideas
    from the outside.
    
    

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34. Reactance
    The urge to do the
    opposite of what
    someone wants people
    to do out of a need to
    resist a perceived
    attempt to constrain their
    freedom of choice or limit
    their range of alternatives.
    🦄
    

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35. How to use the cards?
    02
    
    

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36. These cards were created for teaching purposes.
    They help team members become aware of their
    own biases and the different biases they can induce,
    whether on purpose or not, to users.
    They can also be used as a cheat sheet and as
    “reminder cards” while designing. You can use them in
    small workshops with your coworkers to raise
    awareness among your team.
    The goal
    
    

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37. Step 0 -
    Download the
    cards and cut
    them
    > inpx.it/52-cards
    
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38. Step 1 - Discover and recall
    1. Discovery
    Distribute the cards to groups (or individuals). Ask
    the people in the group to work together to recall
    examples of projects, interfaces or work related
    situations where they might have faced those
    biases.
    Before they start, remind them that they will need to pick 2 to
    present and pick a presenter.
    (10 minutes)
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39. Step 1 - Discover and recall
    2. Sharing
    Each group presents 1 or 2 of the biases with
    an example to all participants in the
    workshop.
    At the end of the sharing session, depending
    on how many groups, people “know” at least
    10 biases. (2-3 minutes per group)
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41. Step 2 - Build an experience
    1. Let’s be evil!
    The people in the group (or individuals) will now imagine the
    most manipulative experience possible. They need to use as
    many biases as possible: those from the cards, those they
    already know.
    You can ask them to build an interface, but also a non-digital
    experience, or even make an advertisement, a TV spot, etc.
    Before they start, remind them that they will need to pick a presenter to
    present the evil experience
    (15/20 minutes)
    
    

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42. Step 2 - Build an experience
    2. Sharing
    Each group then presents their own evil
    experience by listing the different biases used.
    Count the points and discover which group is the
    most evil and manipulative! (2-3 minutes per
    group)
    
    

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44. What about remote
    workshops?
    🦊
    ● A conference tool with voice, a chat and
    breakout rooms to split people into groups.
    ● A board tool (like Miro or mural) with the
    cards on it.
    ● Icebreaker to help people get comfortable
    with remote tools.
    

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46. Going further...
    03
    
    

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47. Ethics
    So, good or evil, what you create and build is
    your responsibility and your choice.
    Would you use some of those in a project?
    
    

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48. Check your biases
    Some of those might influence your user interviews and user testing
    - Confirmation bias
    - Framing effect
    - Social Desirability bias
    - etc.
    → 10 cognitive biases to avoid in User
    Research (and how to avoid them)
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50. 🦄
    

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51. 🦄
    

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52. ● Cognitive Bias Cards For Learning
    Practitioners (to learn about bias)
    ● Cognitive Bias Cards
    ● Wikipedia list of cognitive biases
    ● Online quizz tool with biases cards
    ● CognitiveBiasCards
    ● Bias Cards by UX Psychologists (to avoid
    designer bias)
    ● List of cognitive biases
    ● https:/
    /growth.design/psychology/
    Some cards / lists
    
    

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53. ● Psychology for Designers Joe Leech
    ● 100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know
    About People Susan Weinschenk
    ● 100 MORE Things Every Designer Needs to
    Know About People
    Some books
    
    

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54. Thank you :)
    Contact us if you ever are in Luxembourg or
    remote and want to present a workshop or
    share a UX method!
    @ux_lux on twitter - uxinlux@gmail.com
    
    

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