https://growth.design/psychology

Every time users interact with your product, they:

  1. 🙈 Filter the information
  2. 🔮 Seek the meaning of it
  3. ⏰ Act within a given time
  4. 💾 Store bits of the interaction in their memories

So to improve your user experience, you need to understand the biases & heuristics affecting those four decision-cycle steps.

Below is a list of cognitive biases and design principles (with examples and tips) for each category. Let’s dive right in.

PS: Don’t have time to read the whole list? Get the cheat sheet

Users filter out a lot of the information that they receive, even when it could be important.

When users try to give sense to information, they make stories and assumptions to fill the gaps.

Users are busy so they look for shortcuts and jump to conclusions quickly.

Users try to remember what's most important, but their brain prefers some elements over others.

Product Psychology Resources

If you want to learn more about behavioral psychology and mental models, we recommend these resources:

Cognitive Biases Cheat sheet

We took the time to summarize each principle in one line.

They are all in a free cheat sheet of cognitive biases principles.

You can download this cheatsheet as a PDF here.