Cognitive Biases & Principles

Question 1

👀 Hick’s law

Answer 1

More options lead to harder decisions.

Hick’s Law predicts that the time and the effort it takes to make a decision increases with the number of options. The more choices, the more time users take to make their decisions.

Question 2

💼 Confirmation bias

Answer 2

People look for evidence that confirms what they think.

People tend to search for, interpret, prefer, and recall information in a way that reinforces their personal beliefs or hypotheses.

Question 3

👁 Priming

Answer 3

Previous stimuli influence user’s decision

Subtle visual or verbal suggestions help users recall specific information, influencing how they respond. Priming works by activating an association or representation in users short-term memory just before another stimulus or task is introduced.

Question 4

🚐 Cognitive load

Answer 4

The total amount of mental effort that is required to complete a task. Too much info -> too high cognitive load

Question 5

⚓️ Anchoring bias

Answer 5

Users rely heavily on the first piece of information they see (i.e. showing the most expensive plan first so others look cheap in comparison)

Question 6

👉 Nudge

Answer 6

Subtle hints can affect users’ decisions.

Question 7

🍰 Progressive disclosure

Answer 7

Users are less overwhelmed if they’re exposed to complex features later. An interface is easier to use when complex features are gradually revealed later.

Question 8

🎯 Fitt’s law

Answer 8

It’s easier to aim the bigger the target is

Question 9

🐠 Attentional bias

Answer 9

Users thoughts filter what they pay attention to

Question 10

💔 Empathy gap

Answer 10

People underestimate how much emotions influence user behaviors

Question 11

⛵️ Visual anchors

Answer 11

Elements used to guide user’s eyes

Question 12

🌶 Von Restroff effect

Answer 12

People remember more items that stand out

Question 13

🎖 Visual hierarchy

Answer 13

The order in which people perceive what they see

Question 14

🔭 Selective attention

Answer 14

People filter out things from their environment when they focus

Question 15

✈ Survivorship bias

Answer 15

People neglect things that don’t make it past a selection process (focus on 0.1% that succeeded)

Question 16

🕶 Sensory adaption

Answer 16

Users tune out the stuff they get repeatedly exposed to

Question 17

🍒Juxtaposition

Answer 17

Elements that are close and similar are perceived as a single unit

Question 18

🚦 Signifiers

Answer 18

Elements that communicate what it will do (suggest usage by using expressions users already know or by obvious shapes)

Question 19

🎭 Contrast

Answer 19

Users’ attention is drawn to higher visual weights

Question 20

🚨 External trigger

Answer 20

When the information on what to do next is within the prompt itself

Question 21

🕺 Decoy effect

Answer 21

Having a 3rd option that’s asymmetrically dominated and easy to discard. Influences the user’s decision between 2 options.

Question 22

🔘 Center-stage effect

Answer 22

People tend to choose the middle option in a set of items

Question 23

🖼 Framing

Answer 23

The way information is presented affects how users make decisions

Question 24

🍣 Law of proximity

Answer 24

Elements close to each other are usually considered related

Question 25

🍬 Tesler’s law

Answer 25

If you simplify too much, you’ll transfer some complexity to users

Question 26

🧨 Spark effect

Answer 26

Users are more likely to take action when the effort is small

Question 27

🥏 Feedback loop

Answer 27

When users take action, feedback communicates what happened

Question 28

😻 Expectations bias

Answer 28

People tend to be influenced by their own expectations

Question 29

👥 Social proof

Answer 29

Users adapt their behaviors based on what others do

Question 30

🦄 Scarcity

Answer 30

People value things more when they’re in limited supply

Question 31

💭 Curiosity gap

Answer 31

Users have a desire to seek out missing information

Question 32

🖲 Mental model

Answer 32

Users have a preconceived opinion of how things work

Question 33

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Familiarity bias

Answer 33

People prefer familiar experiences

Question 34

👼 Halo effect

Answer 34

People judge things (or people) based on their feelings of one trait

Question 35

☎️ Miller’s law

Answer 35

Users can only keep ± 7 items in their working memory

Question 36

🍱 Unit bias

Answer 36

One unit of something feels like the optimal amount

Question 37

🌊 Flow state

Answer 37

Being fully immersed or focused on something

Question 38

🕹 Skeuomorphism

Answer 38

Users adapt more easily to things that look like real-world objects. Interface objects that mimic their real-world counterparts

Question 39

🎁 Reciprocity

Answer 39

People feel the need to reciprocate (respond) when they receive something

Question 40

👑 Authority Bias

Answer 40

Users attribute more importance to the opinion of an authority figure

Question 41

🏺 Pseudo-Set Framing

Answer 41

Tasks that are part of a group are more tempting to complete, as humans are drawn to completion.

Question 42

🎰 Variable reward

Answer 42

People enjoy rewards, especially unexpected ones

Question 43

🎊 Group Attractiveness Effect / Cheerleader effect

Answer 43

Individual items seem more attractive when presented in a group (have a few use cases, testimonials, blog posts before you publish)

Question 44

🚰 Curse of Knowledge

Answer 44

Not realizing that people don’t have the same level of knowledge (less technical than you think)

Question 45

🎉 Aha! Moment

Answer 45

When new users first realize the value of your product

Question 46

📮 Self-Initiated Triggers

Answer 46

Users are more likely to interact with prompts they set up themselves

Question 47

✏️ Survey Bias

Answer 47

Users tend to skew survey answers towards what’s socially acceptable

Question 48

🎭 Cognitive Dissonance

Answer 48

It’s painful to hold two opposing ideas in our mind

Question 49

🥅 Goal gradient effect

Answer 49

Motion increases as users get closer to their goal (speed up their behavior. more motivated by how much is left to their target, not how far they’ve come)

Question 50

👍 False consensus effect

Answer 50

People overestimate how much other people agree with them

Question 51

⏰ Recency bias

Answer 51

It’s easiest to remember the last thing you heard

Question 52

🥇 Primacy bias

Answer 52

Remember the first participant most strongly

Question 53

🧑‍🦽 Implicit bias

Answer 53

The collection of attitudes and stereotypes we associate to people without our conscious knowledge

Question 54

⚓️ Sunk cost effect

Answer 54

Users are reluctant to pull out of something they’ve invested in

Question 55

🤝 Social desirability bias

Answer 55

Answering questions based on what the answerer thinks the asker wants to hear.

Question 56

📆 Availability bias

Answer 56

When you rust the user recruitment or skip screener questions to attract a bigger pool of users even if they don’t fit the qualifications or characteristics that you’ve already determined are present in your ideal user.

Question 57

🚆 Aesthetic-Usability effect

Answer 57

People perceive designs with great aesthetics as easier to use

Question 58

💫 Feedforward

Answer 58

When users know what to expect before they take action

Question 59

💈 Occam’s razor

Answer 59

Simple solutions are often better than the complex ones

Question 60

🎗 Noble Edge effect

Answer 60

Users tend to prefer socially responsible companies

Question 61

🎏 Law of similarity

Answer 61

Users perceive a relationship between elements that look similar

Question 62

🔦 Spotlight effect

Answer 62

People tend to believe they are being noticed more than they really are

Question 63

🗓 Fresh start effect

Answer 63

Users are more likely to take action if there’s a feeling of new beginnings.