UX design and psychology have a long-term relationship (social, behavioral, and cognitive). Most human actions are driven by motivation and competition. According to Maslow’s theory, people seek psychological needs before any other basic need, and the motivation to satisfy other needs arises immediately after they satisfy psychological needs.
Similarly, for the design of any UX for its operation, it must satisfy the basic need for working functionality with a reliable and consistent interface in order to motivate any user to continue using the product or service.
The materials for this article are taken from a number of interviews with psychology therapists who uncovered the psychological technics they notice most often when viewing modern websites
1. People Often Repeat the Actions and Emotions of Other People.
Have you ever yawned after someone next to you? Surely yes. This can be described as a physiological phenomenon called the mirror reflex, and the official term for this is the chameleon effect. Creating a perfect copy of emotions, it is an attempt to imitate the emotions of its users. Looking at the illustration, the user will quickly perceive the information, as he considers the emotion.
This is why designers start designing emotional interactions in their products because as humans we feel when we use a product. Using emotional interaction, designers can change our emotions based on how the product wants us to feel.
2. It Must be Good Because it Looks Beautiful
People who lack technical knowledge about a particular technology niche judge a result or product by how it looks aesthetically. This phenomenon is called the aesthetic convenience effect. The emotional factors that drive you to such conclusions can be anything, a photo you like, maybe a design with your favorite colors, or a cool animation that caught your attention.
Aesthetic design, immensely cute, but nowhere to be seen why? No matter how beautiful the design looks, it is vital for designers to check the “Usability” box, that is, ease of use, and this is why such beautiful designs are practically not used.
In the end, when these constructs don’t work, users usually blame themselves for misuse. Positive emotional responses do not take into account the lack of functionality. Because of this dissonance, the user does not return to using the product.
3. Did I Just Hear My Name?
Did you manage to hear your name in a conversation that you were not involved in?
This is a psychological phenomenon and is called the cocktail party effect. Remember how you buy a new thing and every time you see that many people have the same one as you think: “Why did so many people buy this after I bought it?”, This is exactly what you need.
Designers use this effect to grab the user’s attention. Suppose that when a person uses a smartphone, he or she is used to checking their phone for notifications at regular intervals. So if you use the name of a person in a notification, it will be of interest to him with a much greater probability. The same can be applied to an app or website greeting.
4. The Middle Child is Not Being Listened to.
You may have read about the middle child syndrome, this is a psychological condition that exists in children born after and before the child, that is, intermediate. Children with this syndrome often feel left out and isolated from their families.
A very similar psychological effect can be observed when it comes to remembering things among people, it is called the sequential positioning effect. This term demonstrates that people tend to remember only the first and last part of a series they have just seen or read, and often ignore the middle part.
Designers use this effect to position elements in sequence for precise cues. They manipulate the sequential positioning effect to improve the user experience, and the use of this effect can be seen in popular brands as well.
5. Lots of Options
When a user is presented with multiple incentives, in most cases it takes longer for the user to select one of the available options. This discovery was discovered by British and American psychologists William Edmund Hick and Ray Hyman.
Users don’t want to be bombarded with choices, with more options, they need more time to interpret and make decisions, forcing them to work on their minds, which they don’t want.
Designers value the user’s time and understand the fact that a person is not required to stay on their website. Hence, designers use techniques such as separating, categorizing, and simplifying complexity to keep them engaged.
6. You Look Familiar, so I Think I Know You.
You would notice that people choose options that seem familiar to them, for example, people who have used an iPhone tend to keep using it or only upgrade when a better version is available, you are unlikely to see an iPhone user upgrade or switch to Android. People tend to develop this psychological preference due to product familiarity or experience. This is called the simple exposure effect.
Smart designers come up with strategies where they place calls to action in places on the screen that the average user would normally look at, or where users move their mouse involuntarily. For example, designers place the next button in the top right corner of web pages because they know the user will be looking for the home button there.
7. Cancel
Designers use repetitive actions to give users the illusion of control. Designers create this situation to make users believe that they themselves are holding the steering wheel. This allows users to be confident in the possibility of a result. Psychologists have confirmed that we humans tend to worry if we cannot predetermine the events of our life path.
One of the simplest examples is the “X” button in dialog boxes. In fact, the user has only two options to choose from: either cancel the action or click the OK button to continue. Meanwhile, there is another “X” button that has the same functionality as the “Cancel” button, but for users, it translates to “I’m not sure, so I don’t want to make a decision.”
Designers use these little tricks to keep users happy and engaged.
Conclusion
These are simple techniques that designers use to create interactive experiences. It is only through intensive UX research and observation of user behavior that a great user experience can be created.
The feeling of control is necessary for each of us. Thus, when designing, all UX professionals should always be sensitive to their audience.
Originally published at https://www.flowmapp.com.
