Learning Theory
The study of how people acquire knowledge, skills, and behaviors through experience, practice, and instruction. Useful for creating educational content and interactive tutorials that enhance user learning.
253 topics found for:
“user cognition”
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.
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.
Zero-Risk Bias
A cognitive bias where people prefer the option that seems to eliminate risk entirely, even if another option offers a greater overall benefit. Important for understanding decision-making and designing risk communication for users.
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.
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.
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.
Ben Franklin Effect
A psychological phenomenon where a person who has done a favor for someone is more likely to do another favor for that person than if they had received a favor from them. Useful for building positive relationships and encouraging cooperative behavior in design and user interactions.
Belief Perseverance
The tendency to cling to one's beliefs even in the face of contradictory evidence. Important for understanding resistance to change and designing interventions that address this bias.
Modality Effect
The phenomenon where people remember information better when it is presented through multiple sensory modalities rather than a single modality. Crucial for enhancing memory retention and understanding through multimodal presentations.
Cold States
Emotional states where individuals are calm and rational, often contrasted with hot states where emotions run high. Important for understanding decision-making processes and designing experiences that accommodate both states.
Opportunity Cost Neglect
A cognitive bias where individuals overlook or underestimate the cost of opportunities they forego when making decisions. Crucial for understanding user decision-making behavior and designing systems that highlight opportunity costs.
Choice-Supportive Bias
The tendency to attribute positive qualities to one's own choices and downplay the negatives, enhancing post-decision satisfaction. Useful for understanding user satisfaction and designing experiences that reinforce positive decision outcomes.
Depth of Processing
A theory suggesting that information processed at a deeper, more meaningful level is better remembered than information processed at a shallow level. Crucial for designing educational and informational content that enhances retention and understanding.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Cognitive Load Theory
A theory that explains how the amount of mental effort required to process information can impact user experience and task performance. Important for designing user interfaces that minimize unnecessary cognitive effort, enhancing usability and user satisfaction.
The User Is Drunk
A usability testing approach where designers assume that users are easily confused and distracted, focusing on simplicity and clarity in design. Crucial for ensuring that interfaces are intuitive and easy to use under various conditions.
Decision Paralysis
A state of overthinking and indecision that prevents making a choice, often due to too many options or uncertainty. Important for designing interfaces that simplify decision-making processes for users.
Gambler’s Fallacy
A cognitive bias where individuals believe that past random events affect the probabilities of future random events. Important for designers to understand user decision-making biases related to randomness.
Zeigarnik Effect
A psychological phenomenon where people remember uncompleted or interrupted tasks better than completed tasks. Crucial for designing engaging experiences that leverage task incompletion to maintain user interest.
POUR
Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, and Robust (POUR) are the four main principles of web accessibility. These principles are essential for creating inclusive digital experiences that can be accessed and used by people with a wide range of abilities and disabilities.
Gestalt Theory
A set of principles describing how the human mind organizes visual information into meaningful wholes. Crucial for designing intuitive digital interfaces and cohesive user experiences that align with natural human perception patterns.
External Cues
Environmental signals that influence behavior and decision-making, such as signage, prompts, or notifications. Useful for designing environments and systems that effectively guide user behavior.
Base Rate Fallacy
A cognitive bias where people ignore general statistical information in favor of specific information. Critical for designers to use general statistical information to improve decision-making accuracy and avoid bias.
Exposure Effect
A psychological phenomenon where repeated exposure to a stimulus leads to an increased preference for it. Useful for designing marketing and user engagement strategies that increase familiarity and preference.
Functionalism
A design approach that prioritizes the practical purpose and usability of digital products over purely aesthetic considerations. Important for creating efficient, user-centered designs that effectively fulfill their intended functions.
Emergence
A key aspect of Gestalt psychology where complex patterns arise out of relatively simple interactions. Crucial for understanding how users perceive complex designs and patterns.
Similarity
A Gestalt principle that states that objects that are similar in appearance are perceived as being more related than objects that are dissimilar. Essential for creating visually cohesive and intuitive designs.
Group Attribution Error
A cognitive bias where people attribute group behavior to the characteristics of the group members rather than the situation. Crucial for understanding team dynamics and avoiding misattribution in collaborative settings.
Form Follows Function
A design principle that states the design of a product or interface should primarily serve its intended purpose or functionality. Important for creating digital designs that are both practical and user-friendly.
Chunking
A cognitive process that groups information into manageable units, making it easier to remember and process. Important for designing user interfaces that enhance usability and information retention.
Principle of Repetition
A design principle that involves repeating elements to create consistency and unity, making the design more cohesive and understandable. Crucial for creating visually appealing and user-friendly designs that enhance readability and usability.
von Restorff Effect
A phenomenon where an item that stands out is more likely to be remembered than other items, often used in design to highlight important elements. Crucial for designing interfaces that effectively capture user attention.
Extension Neglect
A cognitive bias where people ignore the relevance of sample size in making judgments, often leading to erroneous conclusions. Crucial for designers to account for appropriate sample sizes in research and analysis.
Sunk Cost Fallacy
The tendency for individuals to continue a behavior or endeavor as a result of previously invested resources (time, money, or effort) rather than future potential benefits. Important for understanding decision-making biases and designing systems that help users avoid irrational persistence.
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.
Cluster Navigation
A navigation system that groups related links or content into clusters for easier access. Important for enhancing user experience by simplifying access to related information.
Choice Paralysis
A situation in which an individual is unable to make a decision due to the overwhelming number of options available. Important for designing interfaces that streamline decision-making processes for users.
Shallow Processing
A cognitive approach where information is processed at a surface level, focusing on basic features rather than deeper meaning, often leading to poorer memory retention. Important for designing educational and informational content that encourages deeper processing and understanding.
Centre-Stage Effect
The tendency for people to pay more attention to items placed in the center of a visual field. Crucial for designing layouts that maximize visibility and impact of key elements.
Semantic Encoding
The process of encoding sensory input that has particular meaning or can be applied to a context, enabling deeper processing and memory retention. Important for understanding how information is processed and stored, enhancing design of educational content.
Worse-Than-Average Effect
A cognitive bias where individuals underestimate their own abilities and performance relative to others, believing they are worse than average. Important for understanding self-perception biases among designers and designing systems that support accurate self-assessment.
Proximity
A Gestalt principle that states objects that are close to each other tend to be perceived as a group. Crucial for creating intuitive and organized visual designs that align with natural perceptual tendencies.
Herd Behavior
The tendency for individuals to mimic the actions of a larger group, often leading to conformity and groupthink. Crucial for understanding social influence and designing experiences that consider group dynamics.
Pratfall effect
A psychological phenomenon where individuals are perceived as more likable if they make a mistake, provided they are generally competent. Important for understanding human perception and leveraging relatability in marketing and leadership.
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.
Spacing Effect
A learning phenomenon where information is better retained when study sessions are spaced out over time rather than crammed in a short period. Crucial for designing educational tools and content that optimize long-term retention.
Convergent Thinking
A cognitive process where ideas are brought together to find a single, best solution to a problem. Important for problem-solving and decision-making in design processes.
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.
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.
Similar To Me Bias
A cognitive bias where individuals favor others who are perceived to be similar to themselves, affecting judgments and decision-making. Crucial for understanding biases in team dynamics and decision-making processes among designers.
Behaviorism
A theoretical approach that focuses on observable behaviors and dismisses internal processes, emphasizing the role of environmental factors in shaping behavior. Foundational for understanding how external factors influence user behavior and for designing behavior-based interventions.
Semantic Barriers
Obstacles to effective communication that arise from differences in understanding the meanings of words and symbols used by the communicators. Crucial for designing clear and effective communication systems and avoiding misunderstandings.
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.
Fallacy of Composition
A logical fallacy that occurs when one assumes that what is true for a part is also true for the whole. Important for avoiding incorrect assumptions in design and decision-making.