faulty by design: a psychological examination of how our decisions are guided and made

Faulty by Design: A Psychological Examination of How Our Decisions Are Guided and Made

Faulty by Design: A Psychological Examination of How Our Decisions Are Guided and MadeDr. Bill Gribbons, Director of the Graduate Human Factors Program, Bentley University@wgribbonsBob Thomas, Director of User Experience, Liberty Mutual Insurance@bobthomasJune 2, 2016 Seattle 2016 UXPA Conference

Faulty by Design: A Psychological Examination of How Our Decisions Are Guided and Made 2

What will we examine? Decision making as a window to all behavior

The faulty nature of decision making

Underlying causes

Affects on user behavior and performance

Design support


Classical economics: we are all rational creatures

Source: CBS. This photo is used here for personal, non-commercial use.


Behavioral economics: we are emotional and irrational

Source: CBS. This photo is used here for personal, non-commercial use.


We have to optimize for System 2

Illustration by Julia Suits. This illustration is used here for personal, non-commercial use.


But let’s face it, we’re bad at itWe are designed to minimize effort and optimize performance… even in the most critical life decisions…

For example:the #1 financial goal of Americans is having enough money to retire

Just over half of adult Americans are saving anything for retirement

50% of 45-50 year olds have saved less than $25,000 for retirement

CDC: 80 percent of American adults don't get recommended exercise

4 of 5 people sign up for gym memberships but don’t use them

80-95 percent of dieters regain everything they lost within three years


What is decision making?Where I am Where I want to be


What’s wrong?Is it a software or hardware problem?

loadanxietynear-term focus


Efficiency and loadWhen faced with a difficult question, we often answer an easier one…Based on a limited pool of attentional resources, we tend to be cognitive misers

heuristics and simple rules

optimism biasavailability bias

simplify choices

anchoring bias

satisficing


Load: availability bias (“recency” effect)๏ The demand for earthquake insurance or

flood insurance goes up after an earthquake or flood

๏ After 9/11, some insurance companies offered terrorism insurance at a higher price than the same amount of insurance for death due to any reason – including terrorism(Source: http://www.casact.org/education/infocus/2011/handouts/GS1-Guszcza.pdf)

http://www.casact.org/education/infocus/2011/handouts/GS1-Guszcza.pdf


Load: limit options and control disclosure๏ As designers, do we present every possibility, or control

disclosure?

Source: The Cheesecake Factory. This screenshot is used here for personal, non-commercial use.

A restaurant that only offers one meal: steak and chips

Medicare.gov “Summary of Your Search Results”50 plans available8 independent filters

Cognitive Load

Source: Medicare.gov. This screenshot is used here for personal, non-commercial use.

Source: Kayak. This screenshot is used here for personal, non-commercial use.

Source: Progressive. This screenshot is used here for personal, non-commercial use.


We’re designed to keep anxiety in checkWhat happens if we don’t?

confirmational bias

selective omission

avoidance behavior

tunnel vision or

cognitive narrowing


Emotional impact: anxiety

Source: stress.lovetoknow.com/pictures-people-generalized-anxiety-disorder#3. This image is used here for personal, non-commercial use.

๏ Provide the buyer with logical, rational, simple filters

๏ Don’t enable this process to play out emotionally or irrationally in the subconscious

Source: Zillow. This screenshot is used here for personal, non-commercial use.


Emotional impact: loss aversion

Source: ESPN. This photo is used here for personal, non-commercial use. Source: ESPN. This photo is used here for personal, non-commercial use.

๏ "Losing feels worse than winning feels good." - Bill Parcells, NFL Super Bowl winning coach

Source: Cohen’s Corner Sports. This photo is used here for personal, non-commercial use.

Source: Franklin Templeton Investments. This image is used here for personal, non-commercial use.


Emotional impact: loss aversion๏ Can you pay people to lose weight? Money is a big motivator๏ We are motivated by immediate awards. Tying an award – a

discounted health insurance premium - to a future paycheck is not very motivating

๏ HealthyWage. We are more motivated by losses than gains. We don’t want to lose something we already have, such as $720 put into a weight-loss bet. That is a motivator.

๏ Loss aversion can work if we frame what people may lose ($720) by choosing the non-desired option (not losing weight)

Source: HealthyWage. This image is used here for personal, non-commercial use.


Emotional impact: self-facilitation

Source: The Telegraph. This image is used here for personal, non-commercial use.

When we make a purchase, we are making a decision


Near-term outlookBehavioral economists credit this to an evolutionary bias for near-term survival

We should be planning for retirement… …but, that sports car sure looks

good in the driveway today


Expect conflicting behaviors

at time of purchase when using the product

Two days later…


Managing the predictably irrationalFor example, while interviewing a future user for the previous slide’s product the conversation might go like this: “I can understand why you like those buttons − you know, I love buttons too, but (pause…) humor me for a moment. What if we designed a device with fewer buttons, but with a lower cost and increased ease of use?” “Here, let me show you……”

In other words, I swapped out the “false value” of buttons for the real human value of investment costs − time and money.


Closing thoughtsDesign to support “real people” rather than a mythological, rational, logical, agent

Consider these behaviors in our interactions with users in the field

Seek to counter these persistent psychological forces without venturing too far down the slippery slope of nudging


Faulty by Design

๏ Dr. Bill GribbonsDirector of the Graduate Human Factors Program, Bentley UniversityTwitter: @wgribbons

๏ Bob ThomasDirector of User Experience, Liberty Mutual InsuranceTwitter: @bobthomas

faulty by design: a psychological examination of how our decisions are guided and made

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