Understanding Psychology in UX Design and Research

Introduction

• Speaker: Ash Montes, Freelance UX Researcher
• Focus: Importance of psychology concepts in UX design and research.
• Resources will be shared at the end.

Mental Models

• Definition: Mental models are what people believe about how things work.
• Importance: Essential for understanding user expectations.
• Example: Users expect search bars to be at the top of e-commerce websites due to previous experiences.
• Consequence of Overlooking: A mismatch between the designer's mental model and the user's can lead to design errors and usability issues.

Case Study: iPhone Launch

• Users unfamiliar with iPhone's home button could not find it easily due to its discreet design.
• Even if information is provided, it may not be perceived correctly by new users.

Selective Attention

• Explanation: Users may miss obvious information based on how it is presented.
• Example: The "gorilla test" where participants missed a person in a gorilla costume due to focus on basketball passes.
• Implication: Designers must consider how information is prioritized in design.

Cognitive Overload

• Users crave information but can only process a limited amount at a time.
• Understanding this can help anticipate user behavior during research.

Differences Between What People Say and Think

• Introspection Illusion: People believe they understand their emotions better than they do.
• Example: Choice Blindness experiment shows that people can rationalize choices they did not make.
• Implication: Feedback may not accurately reflect true preferences or behaviors.

Cognitive Bias in UX Research

• Definition: Bias involves shortcuts in decision-making that can lead to errors.
• Examples of Biases:
  • Social Desirability Bias: People may provide socially acceptable answers rather than true ones, e.g., regarding eating habits.
  • Hawthorne Effect: Productivity may increase simply because participants know they are being observed.

Participant Behavior in Usability Testing

• Participants may give biased positive feedback due to discomfort.
• Importance of creating a comfortable environment for honest feedback.
• Recommendation: If actions (behavior) and words (feedback) do not match, prioritize actions.

Conclusion

• Learning psychology enhances understanding of user behaviors and improves UX design and research outcomes.
• Suggested Resources:
  • "100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People"
  • "Bottlenecks: Aligning UX Design and User Psychology" by David Evans
  • Sketchplanations newsletter by Jonathan Hay
  • Dr. Maria Panagiotity's UX psychology newsletter
  • Buster Benson's giant codex on biases
  • Wikipedia's map of cognitive biases.

Final Note

• Encouragement to continue exploring psychology in UX and to subscribe for future content.