Closure
A Gestalt principle where the mind completes incomplete figures to form a whole, aiding in the perception of shapes and objects. Crucial for designing visual elements that are easily understood by users.
368 topics found for:
“cognitive theory”
Illusion of Control
The tendency for people to overestimate their ability to control events. Important for understanding user behavior and designing experiences that manage expectations.
Regressive Bias
A cognitive bias where individuals overestimate the likelihood of extreme events regressing to the mean. Crucial for understanding decision-making and judgment under uncertainty.
Normalcy Bias
The tendency to believe that things will always function the way they normally have, often leading to underestimation of disaster risks. Important for understanding risk perception and designing systems that effectively communicate potential changes.
Shared Information Bias
A cognitive bias where group members tend to discuss information that everyone already knows rather than sharing unique information, leading to less effective decision-making. Important for understanding group dynamics and improving the quality of collaborative decision-making among designers.
Negativity Effect
The tendency for negative information to have a greater impact on one's psychological state and processes than neutral or positive information. Important for understanding and mitigating the impact of negative information.
Irrational Escalation
The phenomenon where people continue a failing course of action due to the amount of resources already invested. Important for recognizing and mitigating biased decision-making.
Picture Superiority Effect
The tendency for images to be more easily remembered than words, highlighting the power of visual communication. Crucial for designing effective visual content that enhances memory retention and user engagement.
Association Fallacy
A logical fallacy in which it is assumed that qualities of one thing are inherently qualities of another, due to an irrelevant association. Important for avoiding incorrect associations in user research and data interpretation.
Continued Influence Effect
The persistence of misinformation in memory and influence on reasoning, even after it has been corrected. Crucial for understanding and mitigating the impact of misinformation in design and communication.
Multistability
A key aspect of Gestalt psychology that explains the tendency for ambiguous images to pop back and forth unstably between alternative interpretations in the mind. Important for understanding visual perception and designing interfaces that avoid ambiguity.
Perceptual Set
The tendency to perceive and interpret information based on prior experiences and expectations, influencing how different users perceive design differently. Important for designing interfaces that meet user expectations, improving usability and intuitive navigation.
Fresh Start Effect
A cognitive phenomenon where people are more likely to pursue goals or change behavior following a temporal landmark (e.g., new year, birthday). Useful for designing interventions and features that leverage these moments to encourage positive behavior.
Ingroup Bias
A cognitive bias where people favor members of their own group over those in other groups. Important for designing inclusive and equitable experiences for users.
Anecdotal Fallacy
A logical fallacy where anecdotal evidence is used to make a broad generalization. Crucial for improving critical thinking and avoiding misleading conclusions.
Testing Effect
The phenomenon where taking a test on material improves long-term retention of that material more than additional study sessions. Crucial for designing educational tools and methods that enhance learning and retention.
Anchoring
Anchoring (also known as Focalism) is a cognitive bias where individuals rely heavily on the first piece of information (the "anchor") when making decisions. Crucial for understanding and mitigating initial information's impact on user decision-making processes.
Scaling Fallacy
A cognitive bias where people underestimate the complexity and challenges involved in scaling systems, processes, or businesses. Important for understanding the difficulties of scaling and designing systems that address these challenges.
Tesler’s Law
The principle stating that there is a limit to the amount of complexity that users can handle, and if designers don't manage complexity, users will. Crucial for designing user-friendly systems that manage complexity effectively.
Satisficing
A decision-making strategy that involves choosing an option that meets the minimum requirements rather than seeking the optimal solution, balancing effort and outcome. Important for designing user experiences that accommodate decision-making under constraints.
Denomination Effect
A cognitive bias where people are less likely to spend large denominations of money compared to an equivalent amount in smaller denominations. Useful for designers to understand consumer behavior and design pricing strategies that consider spending biases.
Survivorship Bias
A cognitive bias that occurs when conclusions are drawn from a non-representative sample, focusing only on successful cases and ignoring failures. Crucial for making accurate assessments and designing systems that consider both successes and failures.
Affect Heuristic
A mental shortcut where current emotions influence decisions, often bypassing logic and reasoning. Important for understanding how emotions impact user decisions, aiding in more effective design and marketing.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
A psychological theory proposed by Abraham Maslow that outlines a five-tier model of human needs, ranging from basic physiological needs to self-actualization. Crucial for designing products and services that address various levels of user needs.
Probability Matching
A decision-making strategy where individuals allocate resources proportionally to the probability of an outcome occurring, rather than optimizing the most likely outcome. Important for understanding decision-making behaviors and designing systems that guide better resource allocation.
Relativity
A principle often used in behavioral economics that suggests people evaluate options based on relative comparisons rather than absolute values. Important for understanding decision-making and designing choices that highlight beneficial comparisons.
Illusory Correlation
The perception of a relationship between two variables when no such relationship exists. Crucial for understanding and avoiding biases in data interpretation and decision-making.
Observer Bias
A type of bias that occurs when the observer's expectations or beliefs influence their interpretation of what they are observing, including experimental outcomes. Essential for ensuring the accuracy and reliability of research and data collection.
Regret Aversion
A tendency to avoid making decisions that might lead to regret, influencing risk-taking and decision-making behaviors. Crucial for understanding decision-making processes and designing systems that minimize regret.
Choice Architecture
The practice of organizing the context in which people make decisions to influence the outcomes, often used to nudge users towards certain behaviors. Crucial for designing user experiences that guide decision-making and improve outcomes.
Identity Priming
The process of triggering particular aspects of a person's identity to influence their behavior or decisions. Important for designing personalized and effective user experiences.
Lag Effect
A phenomenon where learning is improved when study sessions are spaced out over time rather than crammed together. Crucial for designing educational and training programs that enhance long-term retention.
Visual Depiction Effect
A phenomenon where people better understand and remember information when it is presented visually. Crucial for designing effective and engaging visual content.
Intertemporal Choice
The study of how people make choices about what and how much to do at various points in time, often involving trade-offs between costs and benefits occurring at different times. Crucial for designing systems that account for delayed gratification and long-term planning.
Interaction Cost
The effort required for users to complete a task or interaction within a system. Essential for optimizing usability and minimizing user effort.
Selective Exposure
The tendency for individuals to favor information that aligns with their existing beliefs and to avoid information that contradicts them. Crucial for understanding how users engage with content and designing systems that present balanced perspectives.
Affinity Bias
The tendency to favor people who are similar to oneself in terms of background, beliefs, or interests. Important for recognizing and mitigating bias in user research and team dynamics.
Overchoice
The phenomenon where having too many options leads to decision-making paralysis and decreased satisfaction. Crucial for understanding and designing user interfaces that avoid overwhelming users with choices.
Mental Accounting
A behavioral economics concept where people categorize and treat money differently depending on its source or intended use. Crucial for understanding financial behavior and designing systems that align with users' mental accounting practices.
Information Aversion
The tendency to avoid information that one perceives as potentially negative or anxiety-inducing. Important for designing experiences that encourage information-seeking behavior.
McNamara Fallacy
The error of making decisions based solely on quantitative observations and ignoring all other factors. Important for ensuring a holistic approach to decision-making.
Response Bias
A tendency for respondents to answer questions in a manner that is not truthful or accurate, often influenced by social desirability or survey design. Important for understanding and mitigating biases in survey and research data.
Occam’s Razor
A principle that suggests the simplest explanation is often the correct one, favoring solutions that make the fewest assumptions. Crucial for problem-solving and designing straightforward, efficient solutions.
Preference Reversal
A phenomenon where individuals' preferences between options change when the options are presented in different ways or contexts. Important for understanding and designing around inconsistencies in user choices.
Decision Architecture
The design of environments in which people make decisions, influencing their choices and behaviors. Important for creating user experiences that guide decision-making processes effectively.
Prägnanz
A Gestalt principle stating that people will perceive and interpret ambiguous or complex images as the simplest form(s) possible. Important for understanding visual perception and designing intuitive user interfaces.
Availability Cascade
A self-reinforcing process in which a collective belief gains more plausibility through its increasing repetition in public discourse. Important for understanding how information spreads and influences public perception.
Ego Depletion
The idea that self-control or willpower draws upon a limited pool of mental resources that can be used up. Useful for designing user experiences that consider the limitations of willpower and self-control.
Rationalism
A philosophy that emphasizes reason and logic as the primary sources of knowledge and truth. Useful for understanding the foundations of logical thinking and decision-making in design and development.
Dual Self Model
A behavioral economics model that explains decision-making as a conflict between a present-oriented "doer" and a future-oriented "planner". Useful for understanding user decision-making and designing interventions that balance short-term and long-term goals.
Think-Aloud Protocol
A usability testing method where participants verbalize their thoughts while interacting with a product. Essential for understanding user thought processes and identifying usability issues.
Informational Influence
The change in opinions or behavior that occurs when individuals conform to the information provided by others. Important for understanding social dynamics and designing systems that leverage social proof and peer influence.
Information Scent
The cues and hints that users follow to find information online, based on perceived relevance and usefulness. Important for designing intuitive navigation and content structures that align with user expectations.
Pro-Innovation Bias
The tendency to overvalue new innovations and technologies while undervaluing existing or traditional approaches. Important for balanced decision-making and avoiding unnecessary risks in adopting new technologies.
Mere Exposure Effect
A psychological phenomenon where people develop a preference for things simply because they are familiar with them. Crucial for designing user experiences that leverage familiarity to increase user comfort and satisfaction.
Berkson’s Paradox
A statistical phenomenon where two independent events appear to be correlated due to a selection bias. Important for accurately interpreting data and avoiding misleading conclusions.
Feynman Technique
A learning method that involves teaching a concept to a novice to identify gaps in understanding and reinforce knowledge. Important for enhancing comprehension and retention of complex subjects.
Decoy Pricing
A strategy where an additional, less attractive option is introduced to make other pricing options look more appealing, often steering customers towards a particular choice. Important for guiding user decisions and increasing the perceived value of targeted pricing tiers.
Prospect Theory
A behavioral economic theory that describes how people choose between probabilistic alternatives that involve risk, where the probabilities of outcomes are known. Crucial for understanding decision-making under risk and designing systems that align with user behavior.
Social Learning Theory
A theory that suggests people learn behaviors, skills, and attitudes through observing and imitating others, as well as through direct experiences. Crucial for understanding how users acquire new behaviors and designing educational or training programs.