How cognitive biases influence user’s decisions (and ours)

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 behaviour on your websites and apps. 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.

The list of cognitive biases is long and scary for a lot of people, some people even turned them into a poster to make it easier to remember. We propose to work together to make this complex topic a little bit easier to understand.

In small groups, we will go through parts of the list of different cognitive biases we could use to persuade our users. We will try to build the MOST persuasive site possible (or maybe the worst one, who knows) and present those sites to the other groups. Cheaters never win, right?

Transcript

1. Cognitive biases
   Workshop
   UX in LUX 06/03/2019
   

   View Slide

2. View Slide

3. Welcome to the workshop!
   We are UX designers and we propose UX
   workshops in Luxembourg !
   

   View Slide

4. View Slide

5. Share your knowledge
   with the community!
   Contact us if you want to present a
   workshop or share a UX method!
   

   View Slide

6. Thanks :)
   Thanks to amazon for hosting today’s
   workshop.
   

   View Slide

7. What’s the plan?
   1. What are cognitive biases?
   2. It’s scary, let’s play cards
   3. Don’t be evil… or maybe let’s be evil?
   4. OKTHXBYE
   Schedule
   

   View Slide

8. What are cognitive
   biases?
   01
   

   View Slide

9. View Slide

10. Ok, thank you for coming,
    good night :D
    

    View Slide

11. 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
    

    View Slide

12. View Slide

13. IF I don’t book now, there will not be any
    room left for me (Scarcity + loss
    aversion)
    

    View Slide

14. Other people booked it so I will
    book it too (Bandwagon effect)
    

    View Slide

15. 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
    

    View Slide

16. Practise time
    02
    

    View Slide

17. View Slide

18. Step 1 - Discover and recall
    1. In groups, check the biases cards we
    gave you
    2. Can you recall any site or situation
    where those biases where used?
    

    View Slide

19. Let’s share our
    experience
    01
    

    View Slide

20. Step 2 - Let’s be evil
    Now that we have a better understanding of
    a few biases, let’s build the most
    manipulative experience possible.
    How would you sell us a unicorn?
    

    View Slide

21. How would you sell us a unicorn?
    → inpx.it/cobiases
    

    View Slide

22. Sharing is caring
    02
    

    View Slide

23. 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?
    

    View Slide

24. 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)
    

    View Slide

25. View Slide

26. ● 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
    Some cards / lists
    

    View Slide

27. ● 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
    

    View Slide

28. Thank you :)
    Contact us if you want to present a
    workshop or share a UX method!
    @ux_lux on twitter - uxinlux@gmail.com
    

    View Slide