UI&us is about User Interface Design, User Experience design and the cognitive psychology behind design in general. It's written by Keith Lang, co-founder of Skitch; now a part of Evernote.  His views and opinions are his own and do not represent in any way the views or opinions of any company. 

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Wednesday
May202009

Dan Ariely on Decisions

How easily are our decisions are swayed? Dan Ariely explains.

UPDATE: Embedded video seems broken. Click here to view Dan's TED Talk.

1. When faced with a tough decision, people tend to go with the default
2. In an equal A vs B decision, adding a third option can tip the decision. If this option C is a similiar but less attractive version of A, the outcome will be A over B
3. It is possible to design situations and decisions to bias (or NOT bias) people's decisions, consistently

Dan Ariely and his research team is pure smarts. Dan's book (rightmost) is based on scientific research, studies and trials, hard data gleaned in brilliantly designed social experiments. If you're involved in any social websites, product design, I think you'll find this book a goldmine of insights into what drives people's decisions to sign-up, get involved, and buy (or not buy) stuff. After that, you might also like to check out the other books I have read and loved on my Recommend Books page.


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Reader Comments (2)

That reminds me of this exhaustive list, that I have yet to make substantial headway on reading: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cognitive_biases

May 20, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterVincent Gable

It's quite and exhaustive list. Thanks Vincent :-)

May 20, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterKeith Lang
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