Cognitive Bias And How To Avoid It In UX Design
A bias is intolerance toward or against something or someone. Biases are frequently based on stereotypes rather than actual knowledge of a person or circumstance.
Biases can have a significant impact on user research and the final design of a product. We all have biases, and many of them are unconscious. We can’t completely eliminate biases, but we can become more aware of them and work on overcoming them.
A cognitive bias occurs when you believe that something negative is less likely to happen to you. If you’ve ever done something you knew was unprofitable because you’d already put time and money into it, you’ve fallen victim to a cognitive bias.
When processing information, our brain creates natural mental shortcuts. These shortcuts reduce our brain’s cognitive load, allowing it to process new information faster by simply using existing shortcuts.
Cognitive biases are often thought of as tools that help people make sense of their surroundings. However, this can lead to lots of problems because mental shortcuts can easily lead to incorrect assumptions under certain circumstances.
6 Types Of Cognitive Bias
- Confirmation Bias
People are more likely to seek out, interpret, prefer, and remember information that supports their personal beliefs or hypotheses.
Confirmation bias impacts our lives in a number of ways. It can damage our relationships with others and have a negative impact on our careers by processing information in an illogical and biased manner.
An example of this type of bias is when you set your prices low when trying to land new clients.
“If I give a low price, the client won’t run away”
Most designers set a low price for their services out of fear that the client will reject them if they hear a price they don’t like. When, in fact, the opposite is true. A good client won’t run away because you charged high but would instead try and reach a bargain.
If you charge low and the client accepts, you’d be doing yourself a great disservice. You’d get frustrated, put in endless hours of work, and most times the client might want revisions made when you think the project is over and you can’t do anything about it because you have already charged a low price.
How to overcome Confirmation Bias
- Research: Never make assumptions. It is understandable that you may have prior experience and knowledge; however, as you work in the UX design field, you will notice that each user is unique, and each problem has unique details that you may not have seen before. As a result, conducting unbiased research to learn about the user, problems, and potential solutions is preferable.
Note: During user research, don't believe your own assumptions and confirm your thoughts.
- Test Your Design With Multiple Users Group: When testing and receiving feedback on your designs, don’t rely on just one type of user. Create multiple user segments based on their demographics and interests. Get feedback from a wide range of people to help you gather unbiased information. It will also make it easier to question your own assumptions, reducing the likelihood of confirmation bias in the design process.
- Be Open-Minded: You undoubtedly have an opinion on every issue or topic under discussion, which is entirely understandable. You are, however, designing for others, not for yourself. When working with users, avoid imposing your ideas and instead try to put yourself in their shoes. Begin by keeping an open mind, learning about your user, meeting with them, and observing them. This will help you understand their problems and how they think about them.
Remember, your job is to assist users in any way possible.
- Use Data To Impact Design Decisions: Data is an important part of the user experience design process. At each stage of the design process, data must be collected, analyzed, and used to make design decisions. Using real data to avoid confirmation bias is a good way to do so because it allows you to avoid false assumptions without making you feel bad. And the end result is a product that meets the needs of the users.
2. Social Desirability Bias
People have a tendency to respond to questions in the way they believe you want them to. This could indicate that someone tells you something but also lies a little. When left alone and allowed to act independently, a person’s behavior may change dramatically.
As a researcher, you must be aware that the answers you receive during interviews may not be accurate because test participants want to give positive responses. Users can be subjected to social desirability bias despite their true feelings. Try to observe users as much as possible in their natural environments, under the same conditions that they would use the product.
An example of a situation where Social desirability bias might occur is when conducting research in a focus group on Domestic violence and Sexual harassment.
How to overcome Social Desirability Bias
You can avoid this bias by asking indirect questions. Rather than asking how a user feels about a feature, you could ask, “How do you think an average user would interact with this feature?” They won’t feel compelled to appear nice and friendly in this manner.
3. Implicit Bias
Implicit bias also known as unconscious bias is a collection of attitudes and stereotypes that we unconsciously associate with people.
An example of this bias is police officers associating guys with dreads, flashy cars, and outfits as fraudsters.
In UX design, it can occur when we interview people from certain demographics, races, or even ethnicity that we may have profiled subconsciously. It can make us act in certain ways like being overly polite to disabled people
How to overcome Implicit Bias
To overcome this type of bias, tell people to point it out and also reflect on your actions.
4. Recency Bias
Because it is the most recent thing, it is easiest to remember what you heard last in an interview, conversation, or similar situation. When you are having a discussion with someone, you are more likely to remember what they said at the end of the conversation.
How to overcome Recency Bias
Take detailed notes or make recordings of each interview or conversation. This way, if you don’t remember what was said at the start of the conversation, you can go back and review it.
5. Sunk Cost Effect
When you continue to do something as a result of previously invested resources, you experience the sunk cost fallacy (time, effort, money, etc). When they are pushed to do things that will not make them happy, that effect becomes a fallacy.
When working on a design, UX designers encounter the sunk cost fallacy. You may have spent hours designing a new feature only to discover that it does not truly address a user problem. It’s easy to keep working on a design that you’ve put effort into. However, in the end, you must prioritize work that has a positive impact on users.
An example of this bias occurs when you finish watching a boring movie on Netflix just because you started it.
How to overcome Sunk Cost Fallacy
Break down your project into smaller phases, then mark off points where you can decide whether or not to continue. This allows you to go back and make changes based on new information before the project progresses too far.
6. Framing Effect
When people make decisions based on how information is presented rather than the facts themselves, this is known as framing bias. To reiterate, the same facts presented in two different ways can result in people making different decisions or outcomes.
A question like “What did you like or dislike while using this product?” can cause users to focus solely on the product’s positives or negatives (even for the duration of the interview), potentially leading to false positive/negative insights. Instead, you should ask, “what was your experience while using this product”.
How to overcome Framing Effect bias
The first step is to not accept the initial problem or message frame and then also try rephrasing the message or problem.
