How to reduce cognitive biases in Product Design: Part 1
This month our team at Zero To Design has been reading Thinking Fast And Slow by Daniel Kahneman and I kid you not this has been the hardest yet incredible book I’ve read so far. If you’re a designer and wish to better understand the way users’ minds work, how they make their decisions, and what to avoid when making design decisions then this book is HIGHLY recommended. Thank me later 😏
“We think, each of us, that we’re much more rational than we are. And we think that we make our decisions because we have good reasons to make them. Even when it’s the other way around. We believe in the reasons, because we’ve already made the decision.”
-Daniel Kahneman.
Being able to successfully deliver a digital project starts by understanding how we, as humans, think. The better we get at identifying what might mislead us and learning to focus on what is important, the better the chances are that we deliver an amazing project.
We need to develop our ability to think slow to deliver something that will enable others to act fast.
How Our Minds Work
In this book, psychologist Daniel Kahneman provides an ideal framework to help us better understand how we think. The basic principle is that we have two systems that influence us.
System 1, as Kahneman calls it, is spontaneous, instinctive, and emotional. System 2 is more rational, tedious, and effortful. He describes several experiments that demonstrate how we often allow System 1 to lead our judgments when faced with complex and unusual situations as we try to anchor them to what we already know and relate them to patterns we’ve seen in the past.
And because we prefer to act fast, we forget to act rationally. This may lead to better outcomes in the short run, but it might also lead you astray in the long run. Cognitive biases can be both a benefit and a burden.
But what is Cognitive bias?
According to Kahneman, a cognitive bias is a systematic way in which context affects judgment and decision-making. That is, it’s all about the framing of information. We concentrate on different aspects depending on our surroundings. Therefore, our reasoning is not fully rational.
Instead of sticking to facts, we tend to use mental shortcuts to estimate outcomes. These shortcuts are known as heuristics, which help us solve problems quicker, but may also lead to errors in the ways we think, called cognitive biases.
Biases often creep into our design decisions without us even knowing.
1. Jumping to conclusions
2. Taking a shortcut
3. Letting your personal experience influence your decision and more can easily lead you in the wrong direction.
It is even harder to stay on course when you work as part of a team. Everyone has their perspectives, which may or may not align with yours. However, multiple views can also be helpful at times, as seen during our pairing sessions when one designer’s feedback can have a great impact on ways one can improve their work. As designers, we should try to avoid biases and understand the importance of staying neutral while evaluating others’ opinions.
For this article, we will explore 2 biases that we should be aware of when designing and making decisions.
#1 The Anchoring Bias
The anchoring bias occurs when you rely too heavily on an initial piece of information offered (the “anchor”) when making decisions. In other words, you anchor to an idea or detail so strongly that you become reliant on (most likely because it’s the first bit of info you’ve clearly understood), disregarding other info which could be just as much helpful when making a decision. Jumping to conclusions, that’s what the anchoring effect is.
How Anchoring bias can affect designers?
When designing a product’s wireframes, the initial prototype may look completely different from the final version as it evolves through the design process. When you present the final version to your team lead, their response would most likely be “I thought it would look more like this” or “This is way different from the original prototype we agreed on”. Sound familiar?
This is a form of anchoring bias and it’s really common in product development.
A good way to tackle this is to show multiple design options right from the start so that no one design has a higher value, and so reduced anchoring effect :))
HMW use the anchoring effect to influence users?
- Set accurate expectations at the beginning of a workflow/process.
Anchoring can also establish expectations at the beginning of an experience. When designing complex forms a user needs to get through, it is always helpful to provide an estimate of how long the process might take, upfront, to allow your users to determine whether they have enough time and resources to complete it right then. The time estimate serves as an anchor: if the process ends up being longer than expected, users will feel disappointed or frustrated. - The copy used on the first wireframe users interact with.
The Anchoring Effect means we need to be mindful of what we show customers, especially in the early stages of the digital experiences. This is why most websites try to explain their purpose in the hero section usually with a tagline because the information users first take in is what anchors their mood, judgments, and decisions throughout the rest of their journey.
#2 Confirmation Bias
Confirmation bias is a tendency to pay attention to information that confirms preconceived notions. It influences the way we search for, interpret, focus on and remember information.
Confirmation bias tends to lead our mind to agree with data/information which confirms our existing beliefs while discarding information that challenges it. This is why we might not agree with any alternative perceptions despite their validity to the context.
How can Confirmation bias affect designers?
During the design process, we don’t realise it, although we stick to our beliefs based on initial research, which can sometimes drive our project in the wrong direction. Because once you’ve invested all your time and energy into something, the thought of having to go back and reconsider your decisions is something your System 2 is not ready to do. We hold our initial beliefs so close to heart that we tend to start ignoring the facts/data against it, making that belief even stronger… more like the backfire effect lol 👀
Here are a few ways to avoid confirmation bias:
1. Be more open-minded
2. Allow yourself to question your opinions through each stage.
3. Have pairing sessions with teammates to get feedback before taking the
next steps.
We’re all prone to cognitive biases and the best we can do is to stay aware. Educating yourself about psychological principles that affect our minds will surely pay off in the long run. It will help you understand your users’ behaviors and will improve the quality of your work as a UX professional as well.
These are just a few of the many biases mentioned in the book and we’re just halfway through it. I’ll be sharing more of the biases mentioned in Thinking fast and Slow in Part 2 👀
