A key aspect of Gestalt psychology describing the mind's ability to fill in gaps to create a whole object from incomplete elements. Crucial for designing creative and engaging visuals that are both pleasing to the eye and cleverly satisfying to the mind.
A theory that a person's behavior is influenced by and influences personal factors and the environment, creating a continuous loop of interaction between these elements. Important for understanding how behavior, personal factors, and environmental contexts dynamically interact to shape user experiences and outcomes.
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.
The study of how humans interact with systems and products, focusing on improving usability and performance. Crucial for designing user-friendly systems and products.
The tendency for the first items presented in a sequence to be remembered better than those in the middle. Crucial for designing information presentation and improving memory retention.
A framework that explores the structure and function of stories and how they influence human cognition and behavior. Important for creating compelling and meaningful user experiences through storytelling.
A behavior change method that encourages the adoption of small, easy-to-do habits that can lead to larger, sustainable behavior changes. Important for designing systems that support gradual and sustainable behavior change.
A cognitive bias where people prefer familiar things over unfamiliar ones, even if the unfamiliar options are objectively better. Useful for designing interfaces and products that leverage familiar elements to enhance user comfort.
The deteriorating quality of decisions made by an individual after a long session of decision making, due to mental exhaustion. Important for designing interfaces that minimize cognitive load and simplify decision processes.
A memory aid that helps individuals recall information through associations, patterns, or acronyms. Important for designing educational content and interfaces that enhance memory retention.
The psychological discomfort experienced when parting with money, influenced by the payment method and context. Crucial for understanding spending behavior and designing payment systems that mitigate discomfort.
A phenomenon where the probability of recalling an item from a list depends on the length of the list. Important for understanding memory processes and designing effective information presentation.
A theory of motivation that emphasizes the importance of autonomy, competence, and relatedness in fostering intrinsic motivation and psychological well-being. Important for understanding how to design experiences that support user motivation and well-being.
The act of designing and implementing subtle interventions to influence behavior in a predictable way. Crucial for guiding user behavior effectively without limiting freedom of choice.
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.
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.
The ability to identify and interpret patterns in data, often used in machine learning and cognitive psychology. Crucial for designing systems that leverage pattern recognition for predictive analytics and user interactions.
The study of the principles that govern human behavior, including how people respond to stimuli and learn from their environment. Crucial for designing user experiences that anticipate and influence user behavior.
Readability is a design principle that emphasizes making text easy to read and understand. Crucial for enhancing user comprehension and engagement in digital and print media.
A concept in transactional analysis that describes three different aspects of the self: Parent, Adult, and Child, each influencing behavior and communication. Important for designing communication strategies and interfaces that resonate with different user states.
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 framework suggesting there are two systems of thinking: System 1 (fast, automatic) and System 2 (slow, deliberate), influencing decision-making and behavior. Crucial for understanding how users process information and make decisions.
A principle that suggests people are more likely to comply with requests or follow suggestions from authority figures. Important for designing persuasive experiences and understanding user compliance.
A cognitive bias where individuals tend to avoid risks when they perceive potential losses more acutely than potential gains. Important for understanding decision-making behavior in users and designing systems that mitigate risk aversion.
The drive to perform an activity due to external rewards or pressures rather than for the inherent enjoyment of the activity itself. Important for designing systems that effectively use external incentives to motivate user behavior.
A theory that explains how information is processed through different sensory modalities, such as visual, auditory, and tactile. Important for designing user experiences that engage multiple senses for better interaction and understanding.
The phenomenon where people have a reduced ability to recall the last items in a list when additional, unrelated information is added at the end. Crucial for designing information presentation to optimize memory retention.
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.
The phenomenon where the credibility of the source of information influences how the message is received and acted upon. Crucial for designing communication strategies that leverage trusted sources.
The study of strategic decision making, incorporating psychological insights into traditional game theory models. Useful for understanding complex user interactions and designing systems that account for strategic behavior.
A cognitive bias where people perceive past events as having been more predictable than they actually were. Important for understanding and mitigating biases in user feedback and decision-making.
The ability to perform actions or behaviors automatically due to learning, repetition, and practice. Important for understanding user habits and designing intuitive user interfaces.
A theory that emphasizes the role of emotions in risk perception and decision-making, where feelings about risk often diverge from cognitive assessments. Important for designing systems that account for emotional responses to risk and improve decision-making.
A cognitive bias where people tend to believe that others are more affected by media messages and persuasive communications than they are themselves. Important for understanding media influence and designing communications that account for this bias in user perception.
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.
A cognitive bias where individuals with low ability at a task overestimate their ability, while experts underestimate their competence. Crucial for designers to create educational content and user interfaces that accommodate varying levels of user expertise.
A cognitive bias where the total probability assigned to a set of events is less than the sum of the probabilities assigned to each event individually. Important for understanding how users estimate probabilities and make decisions under uncertainty.
The phenomenon where a humanoid object that appears almost, but not exactly, like a real human causes discomfort in observers. Important for understanding user reactions to lifelike robots and avatars.
The tendency to forget information that can be easily found online, also known as digital amnesia. Important for understanding how access to information impacts memory and designing experiences accordingly.
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.
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.
A phenomenon where people are more likely to remember information when they are in the same state of consciousness as when they learned it. Important for understanding how context affects memory recall and designing experiences that facilitate better retention.
A theory that suggests the depth of processing (shallow to deep) affects how well information is remembered. Important for designing educational content and user interfaces that enhance memory retention.
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.
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.
The study of narrative and narrative structure and the ways that these affect our perception. Useful for understanding and applying narrative techniques in design and communication.
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.
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.
A concept that humans make decisions within the limits of their knowledge, cognitive capacity, and available time, leading to satisficing rather than optimal solutions. Crucial for designing systems and processes that account for human cognitive limitations and decision-making processes.
A pricing strategy where a high-priced option is introduced first to set a reference point, making other options seem more attractive in comparison. Important for shaping user perceptions of value and creating a benchmark for other pricing options.
A cognitive bias where people judge the likelihood of an event based on the size of its category rather than its actual probability. Crucial for designers to understand how category size influences user perception and decision-making processes.
A cognitive bias where individuals evaluate the value of bundled items differently than they would if the items were evaluated separately. Important for understanding user behavior and designing effective product bundles and pricing strategies.
The theory that all behaviors are acquired through conditioning, often used to understand and influence behavior change. Important for designing interventions that promote positive behavior change.
A technique used to prime an audience before delivering a persuasive message. Essential for enhancing the effectiveness of persuasive communication by shaping audience receptivity.
The application of neuroscience principles to marketing, aiming to understand consumer behavior and improve marketing strategies. Important for creating more effective and engaging marketing campaigns.
The study of the interplay between individuals and their surroundings, including built environments and natural settings. Essential for designing spaces that enhance well-being and productivity.
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.
The way information is presented to users, which can significantly influence their decisions and perceptions. Important for designing messages and interfaces that guide user choices effectively.
A persuasion strategy that involves getting a person to agree to a small request to increase the likelihood of agreeing to a larger request later. Crucial for building user commitment and enhancing marketing and sales strategies.
A principle that states the time it takes to make a decision increases with the number and complexity of choices available. Crucial for designing user interfaces that minimize cognitive load and enhance decision-making efficiency.