Cognitive psychology and design, they are two closely related fields. Cognitive bias should be a powerful tool in the designer’s belt. Because we can take advantage of it.

1. Cognitive
Bias
For Emotional Design
B y J o a n a C e r e j o , 2 0 1 9

2. Today’s MENU
1. Define a Cognitive Bias
2. Describe a Design Implication
of the Bias
3. Present a real example of this
design implication at work

3. DESIGN EMOTIONS
USER EXPERIENCE DESIGNERS (UXD)
designs how a user interacts and
responds to a service or product.
THAT RESPONSE IS AN EMOTION.
UXD not only strive to design usable,
functional products but to also generate a
certain emotional effect on their audience.
https://www.toptal.com/designers/product-design/design-for-emotion-to-increase-user-engagement

4. They are two closely related fields.
Cognitive bias should be a powerful
tool in the designer’s belt. Because we
can take advantage of it.
COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY
DESIGN

5. We are
Programmed
to Make
Cognitive
Shortcuts
Users / Customers apply
their cognitive functions
during their interaction
with the products and
services we design.

6. WHAT IS A COGNITIVE BIAS?
They are a series of mental shortcuts, distortions in our
perception that make part of our cognitive activity.
Often Bias are beneficial
but sometimes they can
hurt our designs.

7. IN OTHER WORDS…
Cognitive Biases are the outcome of the
brain’s attempt to simplify
I n f o r m a t i o n P r o c e s s i n g .

8. Exploring Cognitive Bias help
us, Designers, to predict
HUMAN IRRATIONALITY.

9. WHY DESIGNERS SHOULD BE AWARE OF THESE?
t
Cognitive Biases are:
Predi ct abl e
(s ys tem a ti c )
Affect the way users think and feel about a
product or service.
Un co n t ro l l abl e
(i nvo l unta ry)

10. DESIGN
We can apply Cognitive
Biases to IMPROVE or
ENHANCE our Designs.
But also to
MANIPULATE
our Designs.
But just like in the case
of dark patterns, it
may result in some
quick wins, but it has a
negative impact in the
long run.

11. USER EXPERIENCE
By understanding the effects of the most
relevant cognitive biases, we can improve
UX not only by trying to avoid the possible
negative consequences, but also by taking
advantage of them!
https://uxknowledgebase.com/cognitive-bias-part-1-8191decf703a

12. > 1 7 5 COGNITIVE BIAS

13. BIAS ON DESIGNERS
Another significant aspect is that we,
designers, also have cognitive biases, so
we need to pay attention to these during
the research and
design process.
Blind Spot Bias

14. BIAS ON DESIGNERS
There are design choices we can make that
help keep harmful cognitive biases in check
(or leverage the for good).

15. 4 PROBLEMS
Biases help us address:
1. Information overload
2. Lack of meaning
3. Need to act fast
4. What should we remember
for later
https://betterhumans.coach.me/cognitive-bias-cheat-
sheet-55a472476b18

16. 4 PROBLEMS
Biases help us address:
1. Information overload
2. Lack of meaning
3. Need to act fast
4. What should we remember
for later
Availability heuristic / Attentional bias /
Illusory truth effect / Mere exposure effect /
Context effect / Cue-dependent forgetting /
Mood-congruent memory bias / Frequency
illusion / Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon /
Empathy gap / Bizarreness effect / Humor
effect / Von Restorff effect / Negativity bias /
Publication bias / Omission bias / Anchoring /
Contrast effect / Focusing effect / Framing
effect / Weber–Fechner law / Distinction bias
/ Confirmation bias / Congruence bias / Post-
purchase rationalization / Choice-supportive
bias / Selective perception / Observer-
expectancy effect / Experimenter’s bias /
Observer effect / Expectation bias / Ostrich
effect / Subjective validation / Continued
influence effect / Semmelweis reflex / Bucket
error / Law of narrative gravity, / Bias blind
spot / Naïve cynicism / Naïve realism

17. 4 PROBLEMS
Biases help us address:
1. Information overload
2. Lack of meaning
3. Need to act fast
4. What should we remember
for later
Confabulation / Clustering illusion / Insensitivity to sample
size / Neglect of probability / Anecdotal fallacy / Illusion of
validity / Masked man fallacy / Recency illusion / Gambler’s
fallacy / Hot-hand fallacy / Illusory correlation / Pareidolia,
Anthropomorphism / Group attribution error / Ultimate
attribution error / Stereotyping / Essentialism / Functional
fixedness / Moral credential effect / Just-world hypothesis /
Argument from fallacy / Authority bias / Automation bias /
Bandwagon effect / Placebo effect / Halo effect / In-group
bias / Out-group homogeneity bias / Cross-race effect /
Cheerleader effect / Well-traveled road effect / Not
invented here / Reactive devaluation / Positivity effect /
Mental accounting / Normalcy bias / Appeal to probability
fallacy / Base rate fallacy / Murphy’s law / Hofstadter’s law
/ Subadditivity effect / Survivorship bias / Zero sum bias /
Denomination effect / Magic number 7+-2 / Swimmer’s body
illusion / Money illusion / Conservatism / Curse of
knowledge / Illusion of transparency / Spotlight effect /
Streetlight effect, / Illusion of external agency / Illusion of
asymmetric insight / Extrinsic incentive error / Hindsight bias
/ Outcome bias / Moral luck / Declinism / Telescoping
effect / Rosy retrospection / Impact bias / Pessimism bias /
Planning fallacy / Time-saving bias / Pro-innovation bias /
Projection bias / Restraint bias / Self-consistency bias

18. 4 PROBLEMS
Biases help us address:
1. Information overload
2. Lack of meaning
3. Need to act fast
4. What should we remember
for later
Overconfidence effect / Egocentric bias / Optimism bias /
Social desirability bias / Third-person effect / Forer effect
/ Barnum effect / Illusion of control / False consensus
effect / Dunning-Kruger effect / Hard-easy effect /
Illusory superiority / Lake Wobegone effect / Self-serving
bias / Actor-observer bias / Fundamental attribution error
/ Defensive attribution hypothesis / Trait ascription bias /
Effort justification / Risk compensation / Peltzman effect
/ Armchair fallacy / Hyperbolic discounting / Appeal to
novelty / Identifiable victim effect / Sunk cost fallacy /
Irrational escalation / Escalation of commitment / Loss
aversion / IKEA effect / Processing difficulty effect /
Generation effect / Zero-risk bias / Disposition effect /
Unit bias / Pseudocertainty effect / Endowment effect /
Backfire effect / System justification / Reactance /
Reverse psychology / Decoy effect / Social comparison
bias / Status quo bias / Abilene paradox / Law of the
instrument / Law of the hammer / Maslow’s hammer /
Golden hammer / Chesterton’s fence / Hippo problem /
Ambiguity bias / Information bias / Belief bias / Rhyme
as reason effect / Bike-shedding effect / Law of Triviality
/ Delmore effect / Conjunction fallacy / Occam’s razor /
Less-is-better effect / Sapir-Whorf-Korzybski hypothesis

19. 4 PROBLEMS
Biases help us address:
1. Information overload
2. Lack of meaning
3. Need to act fast
4. What should we
remember for later
Misattribution of memory / Source
confusion / Cryptomnesia / False memory
/ Suggestibility / Spacing effect / Implicit
associations / Implicit stereotypes /
Stereotypical bias / Prejudice / Fading
affect bias / Peak–end rule / Leveling and
sharpening / Misinformation effect /
Duration neglect / Serial recall effect /
List-length effect / Modality effect /
Memory inhibition / Part-list cueing effect /
Primacy effect / Recency effect / Serial
position effect / Suffix effect / Picture
superiority effect / Levels of processing
effect / Testing effect / Absent-
mindedness / Next-in-line effect / Tip of
the tongue phenomenon / Google effect /
Self-relevance effect

21. There are a few Cognitive Biases
that have successfully been
changing human behavior and
ultimately increase their user
engagement and retention.

22. THE VARIABLE SCHEDULE
OF REWARDS BIAS
This Bias is a schedule of reinforcement where a
response is reinforced after an unpredictable
number of responses. This schedule creates a
steady, high rate of responding.

23. WHAT THIS MEANS?
VARIABLE REWARDS engage more
users than predictable rewards.

27. There's a lot of social pressure to keep up a Snapstreak.

29. Design for Evil
Snapstreaks are a good example of what ex-google
design ethicist Tristan Harris calls unethical design.
Unethical designs, according to him, exploit
psychological vulnerabilities to influence what users
do without realizing it.

30. Duolingo, a platform to learn any language for free
has employed a similar persuasion technique as
Snapchat that ensures that users will keep working
on their learning streak, which in turn engages and
retains users.

31. THE CONTRAST EFFECT
Contrast Bias is the tendency to promote or
demote something when comparing it to a
contrasting thing.

33. A Positive Contrast Effect
would occur if something was
perceived as better than it
actually is, because it was
compared to something worse.
A Negative Contrast Effect
would be when something was
perceived as worse than it
actually is, because it was
compared to something better.

35. BARE IN MIND …
Make your product stand out as much as possible.
Using surprise, differentiation, and shock value, you
can make your product more memorable, and
therefore more likely for people to purchase.

36. THE NEGATIVE BIAS
Negative Experiences have a bigger impact on
our cognition than do Positive or Neutral ones.

37. We have a tendency to pay more
attention and give more weight to
negative than positive experiences
or other kinds of information.

38. BARE IN MIND …
Negative design / information will ring more attention than
positive information.
We can utilize this fact in our designs by paying great
attention to what negative feedback is presented to the user.
If we want users to pay attention to positive information, be
careful not to let negative feedback outshine the positive.

39. HOW TO AVOID IT?
• Follow design standards
• Match user’s / costumer’s expectations
• Anticipate user’s / costumer’s concerns and address them
• If a digital product / service, write good error messages
• Sprinkle delightful encounters
• Test
https://www.nngroup.com/articles/negativity-bias-ux/

40. THE IKEA EFFECT
The tendency for people to place a
disproportionately high value on products that
they have partially created or completed it.

41. The effort creates an E M O TI O N A L bond.
When someone uses their own hands to create something, they holder
it in higher esteem, even if it was done poorly.

43. HOW TO USE IT?
• Enable customizations if possible
• Allowing users / customers to complete a task that brings
the product or service to a complete state can trigger this
effect.
• This only works if the results are fruitful otherwise can
convert into Negative Bias by raising the levels of frustrations.

44. HOW TO USE IT?
1. Let your users/customers take part in building and/or
making your product(s) by investing their time and/or
money.

45. HOW TO USE IT?
2. Give your users /
customers the option
to customize your
product(s).

46. HOW TO USE IT?

47. BARE IN MIND …
“Emotional design has risks. If emotional
engagement compromises the functionality,
reliability, or usability of an interface, the positive
experience you wanted will mutate into a rant-
inducing disaster for your users.”
Aarron Walter. “Designing for Emotion.”

48. THE BABY FACE BIAS
A tendency to see people and things with baby-
faced features as more naïve, helpless, and
honest than those with mature features.

49. HOW TO USE IT ?
• The use of mascots to create connections with
our audience

50. T H E E N D