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.
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.
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.
A collection of pre-written code and tools that provide a foundation for building the front end of websites and applications, such as Bootstrap or React. Crucial for streamlining the development process and ensuring consistency.
The mathematical study of waiting lines or queues. Useful for optimizing user flow and reducing wait times in user interfaces.
Customer Experience (CX) is the overall perception and feeling a customer has when interacting with a company, its products, or services. Crucial for ensuring positive interactions with a company, driving loyalty and satisfaction.
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.
A cognitive approach that involves meaningful analysis of information, leading to better understanding and retention. Crucial for designing educational and informational content that promotes deep engagement and learning.
The reduction of restraint in behavior, often due to the absence of social cues, which can lead to impulsive actions and emotional outbursts. Important for understanding user behavior in online and anonymous contexts.
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.
The representation of data through graphical elements like charts, graphs, and maps to facilitate understanding and insights. Essential for making complex data accessible and actionable for users.
A problem-solving method that involves asking "why" five times to identify the root cause of a problem. Useful for designers and product managers to uncover underlying issues and improve processes and solutions.
The underlying goal or motivation behind a user's search query, crucial for understanding and optimizing content to meet user needs and improve SEO. Essential for creating content that aligns with user needs and improving search engine rankings.
The compromises made between different design options, balancing various factors like usability, aesthetics, and functionality. Essential for making informed decisions that optimize overall design effectiveness.
The process of planning, creating, and managing content in a way that is user-centered and purpose-driven. Crucial for ensuring that content is engaging, relevant, and effective.
A dark pattern where the product asks for the user's social media or email credentials and then spams all the user's contacts. Recognizing the harm of this practice is important to protect user trust and avoid spamming their contacts.
The tendency for people to value products more highly if they have put effort into assembling them. Important for understanding user satisfaction and product attachment.
A quick and cost-effective usability testing method where feedback is gathered from users in informal settings, often in public places. Useful for gaining rapid insights into user behavior and improving designs iteratively.
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.
A cognitive bias that causes people to attribute their own actions to situational factors while attributing others' actions to their character. Essential for helping designers recognize their own situational influences on interpreting user behavior and feedback.
An informal usability testing method where random passersby are asked to try out a product or feature and provide feedback. Essential for quickly identifying usability issues with minimal resources.
A usability inspection method where experts review a user interface against a set of heuristics to identify usability issues. Crucial for identifying usability problems early in the design process.
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.
Joint Application Development (JAD) is a collaborative approach to gathering requirements and designing solutions in software development projects. It facilitates rapid decision-making and consensus-building by bringing together key stakeholders, including users, developers, and project managers, in structured workshop sessions.
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.
Common reading patterns users follow when scanning web content, such as the F-pattern, where users read across the top and then scan down the left side. Important for designing layouts that align with natural reading behaviors, improving content engagement and usability.
A cognitive bias that causes people to overestimate the likelihood of negative outcomes. Important for understanding user risk perception and designing systems that address irrational pessimism.
A mode of thinking, derived from Dual Process Theory, that is fast, automatic, and intuitive, often relying on heuristics and immediate impressions. Important for understanding how users make quick decisions and respond to design elements instinctively, aiding in the creation of intuitive and user-friendly interfaces.
The tendency to recall past behavior in a way that aligns with current beliefs and attitudes. Crucial for understanding how memories and self-perception can be influenced by current perspectives.
The mistaken belief that a person who has experienced success in a random event has a higher probability of further success in additional attempts. Crucial for understanding and designing around user decision-making biases.
The phenomenon where people follow the direction of another person's gaze, influencing their attention and behavior. Important for understanding visual attention and designing more effective visual cues in interfaces.
The practice of linking one page of a website to another page on the same website, improving navigation, user experience, and SEO. Essential for enhancing website structure, user engagement, and search engine optimization.
A cognitive bias where people disproportionately prefer smaller, immediate rewards over larger, later rewards. Important for understanding and designing around user decision-making and reward structures.
A system where outputs are fed back into the process as inputs, allowing for continuous improvement based on user responses. Crucial for iterative development and continuous improvement in design and product management.
A cognitive architecture model that explains how humans can learn and adapt to new tasks. Useful for understanding user learning and behavior adaptation, informing better user experience design.
An economic approach that treats human attention as a scarce commodity, focusing on capturing and retaining user attention. Crucial for understanding user engagement and designing products that effectively capture and retain attention.
A phenomenon where information is better remembered if it is generated from one's own mind rather than simply read. Useful for designing educational and interactive content that enhances memory retention.
Software agents that can perform tasks or services for an individual based on verbal commands. Crucial for enhancing user experience through hands-free interaction and automation.
A cognitive bias where people allow themselves to indulge after doing something positive, believing they have earned it. Important for understanding user behavior and designing systems that account for self-regulation.
A stimulus that gains reinforcing properties through association with a primary reinforcer, such as money or tokens, which are associated with basic needs. Essential for understanding complex behavior reinforcement strategies and designing effective reward systems.
Measurements that track the effectiveness of each stage of the funnel, such as conversion rates and drop-off points. Crucial for identifying areas of improvement in the customer journey.
The tendency to attribute intentional actions to others' behaviors, often overestimating their intent. Important for understanding and mitigating biases in user interactions and feedback.
A framework that combines multiple theories to explain and predict behavior, focusing on intention, knowledge, skills, environmental constraints, and habits. Crucial for designing interventions that effectively change user behavior.
A cognitive bias that causes people to believe they are less likely to experience negative events and more likely to experience positive events than others. Crucial for understanding user risk perception and designing systems that account for unrealistic optimism.
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.
A logical fallacy where people assume that specific conditions are more probable than a single general one. Important for understanding and addressing cognitive biases in user behavior.
Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) is the systematic process of increasing the percentage of website visitors who take a desired action, such as making a purchase or filling out a form. Crucial for improving user engagement and achieving business goals.
A phenomenon where people better understand and remember information when it is presented visually. Crucial for designing effective and engaging visual content.
An AI-driven assistant or tool that helps users accomplish tasks more efficiently, often by providing suggestions and automating routine actions. Important for enhancing productivity and user experience through AI assistance.
The design of products, devices, services, or environments for people with disabilities or specific needs. Crucial for creating inclusive products that can be used by everyone, including those with disabilities.
A cognitive bias where people place too much importance on one aspect of an event, causing errors in judgment. Important for understanding decision-making and designing interfaces that provide balanced information.
A strategy that focuses on identifying and addressing the specific problems or "pain points" of users in order to improve search engine rankings and attract more targeted traffic. Essential for creating content that directly addresses user needs and improves website visibility.
A cognitive bias where decision-making is affected by the lack of information or uncertainty. Important for understanding and mitigating user decision-making biases due to uncertainty or lack of information.
The process of continuously improving a product's performance, usability, and value through data-driven decisions and iterative enhancements. Crucial for ensuring that a product remains competitive and meets evolving user needs.
The tendency to perceive a greater quantity as a better value, regardless of the actual utility. Important for understanding consumer behavior and designing effective marketing strategies.
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.
The planning, development, and management of content to meet business and user needs, ensuring consistency and effectiveness across all channels. Essential for creating cohesive and impactful content that aligns with business goals and user needs.
The strategic promotion, placement, and persuasive presentation of digital products or services within an online platform to maximize sales, engagement, and user satisfaction. Important for optimizing the visibility, appeal, and persuasive impact of digital offerings, enhancing user experience, and driving conversions in online environments.
A mode of thinking, derived from Dual Process Theory, that is slow, deliberate, and analytical, requiring more cognitive effort and conscious reasoning. Crucial for designing complex tasks and interfaces that require thoughtful decision-making and problem-solving, ensuring they are clear and logical for users.
The experience of noticing something for the first time and then frequently encountering it shortly after, also known as frequency illusion. Important for understanding user perception and cognitive biases in information processing.