Behavioral Design Glossary

Explore our list of key behavioral design concepts and how to apply them to help drive conversions, retention and engagement

Action Bias

Inclination towards action over inaction in decision-making processes.

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Affect Heuristic

Quick decision-making based on immediate emotional responses.

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Ambiguity Effect

People favor known risks over unknown outcomes in decision-making.

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Anchoring Bias

A cognitive bias where initial information heavily influences decision-making.

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Attentional Bias

Focus on certain aspects while ignoring others due to personal relevance.

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Availability Heuristic

A cognitive bias where decisions are based on immediate, available information.

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Bandwagon Effect

Peer influence driving individuals to adopt certain behaviors or beliefs.

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Base Rate Fallacy

Over-reliance on specific information over general probability statistics.

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Bikeshedding

Bikeshedding is prioritizing minor details over key project issues.

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Bottom-Dollar Effect

Psychological phenomenon favoring final units in a sequence of consumption.

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Bounded Rationality

Decision-making process limited by available information, cognitive constraints, and time.

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Bundling Bias

Bias towards purchasing grouped products rather than individual items.

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Bye-Now Effect

The theory posits immediate gratification increases customer engagement and conversions.

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Cashless Effect

The psychological impact of digital transactions fostering increased spending.

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Category Size Bias

A cognitive bias favoring larger, more diverse categories.

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Choice Overload

Paralysis or decreased satisfaction due to excessive available options.

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Cognitive Dissonance

The mental discomfort experienced when holding two conflicting beliefs.

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Commitment Bias

An inclination to stay consistent with prior decisions or actions.

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Confirmation Bias

Tendency to favor information that confirms one's existing beliefs.

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Decision Fatigue

The mental exhaustion from making frequent, varied decisions.

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Declinism

The belief that societal conditions are deteriorating over time.

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Decoy Effect

A psychological tactic influencing choices by introducing a third option.

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Disposition Effect

An inclination to sell winning assets while retaining losing ones.

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Distinction Bias

Overemphasis on small differences when comparing options simultaneously.

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Dunning–Kruger Effect

Overconfidence in incompetence due to lack of self-awareness.

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Empathy Gap

Understanding and predicting behavior based on emotional state differences.

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Endowment Effect

Valuing owned items more than their market value.

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Extrinsic Incentive Bias

Overvaluation of rewards provided from external rather than internal sources.

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Framing Effect

Influence of presentation style on decision-making perceptions and outcomes.

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Functional Fixedness

A psychological bias limiting a person to use an object in a traditional way.

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Fundamental Attribution Error

Overemphasis on personality traits and underestimation of situational influences.

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Gambler's Fallacy

Misconception that future probabilities are influenced by past events.

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Google Effect

Reliance on internet to recall information reduces memory capacity.

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Halo Effect

A cognitive bias influencing overall impressions based on one trait.

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Hard-easy effect

Tendency to overestimate easy tasks and underestimate challenging ones.

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Heuristics

Quick decision-making strategies derived from learned or instinctive experiences.

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Hindsight Bias

Tendency to overestimate the predictability of past events after knowing the outcome.

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Hot-hand Fallacy

Misperception that a person's success streak in random events continues.

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Hyperbolic Discounting

Preference for immediate rewards over larger, delayed benefits.

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IKEA Effect

Valuing self-assembled products more than pre-assembled items.

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Identifiable Victim Effect

Emotional response to individual suffering boosts charitable behavior.

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Illusion of Control

Perceived influence over uncontrollable events due to cognitive biases.

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Illusion of Validity

Overconfidence in predictions based on perceived patterns or trends.

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Illusory Correlation

Perception of a relationship between unrelated phenomena or variables.

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Illusory Truth Effect

Perceived truth increases with repeated exposure to information.

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In-group Bias

Preference and favoritism towards one's own social group.

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Incentivization

Motivating action through strategic use of rewards and benefits.

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Just-World Hypothesis

Belief that world is fair and people get what they deserve.

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Lag Effect

Enhancing learning and retention through spaced repetition over time.

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Law of the Instrument

Tendency to over-rely on a familiar tool or perspective.

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Less-is-Better Effect

A cognitive bias favoring simpler options over more complex ones.

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Leveling and Sharpening

A psychological process influencing distortion and simplification of memories.

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Levels of Processing

A theory suggesting deeper information processing leads to improved memory retention.

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Look-elsewhere Effect

Human tendency to seek alternatives when results don't meet expectations.

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Loss Aversion

Preference of avoiding losses over acquiring equivalent gains.

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Mental Accounting

A cognitive process of categorizing and evaluating financial outcomes.

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Mere Exposure Effect

Familiarity boosts liking and preference in human behavioral response.

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Motivating Uncertainty Effect

Encouraging action through the strategic use of uncertainty stimuli.

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Naive Allocation

A strategy leveraging human bias towards equal distribution for decision-making.

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Naive Realism

The belief that one's perceptions reflect reality accurately.

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Negativity Bias

Inclination to focus more on negative experiences than positive ones.

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Noble Edge Effect

Enhancing brand trust and loyalty through ethical business practices.

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Nostalgia Effect

Emotionally-driven response boosting engagement through past positive experiences.

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Observer Expectancy Effect

Subconscious influence of observers' expectations on subjects' behavior.

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Omission Bias

A preference for harm caused by inaction over action.

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Optimism Bias

Inclination to overestimate positive outcomes and underestimate negatives.

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Ostrich Effect

Ignoring problematic situations in hopes they'll resolve themselves.

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Overjustification Effect

Extrinsic rewards can diminish intrinsic motivation towards an activity.

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Paradox of Choice

Too many options can overwhelm and lead to decision paralysis.

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Peak-end Rule

Evaluating experiences based on their peak and final moments.

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Pessimism bias

A cognitive bias that overestimates negative outcomes or drawbacks.

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Planning Fallacy

Underestimation of time and resources required to complete tasks.

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Primacy Effect

First impressions significantly influence subsequent information processing and decisions.

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Priming

Subconscious influence on behavior by exposure to certain stimuli.

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Projection Bias

Overestimating future alignment with current feelings and beliefs.

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Reactive devaluation

Discounting proposals from perceived adversaries due to bias.

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Regret Aversion

A psychological phenomenon where people avoid actions causing potential regret.

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Representativeness Heuristic

Judging likelihood based on resemblance to existing mental prototypes.

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Response Bias

An inclination to respond to surveys in a certain way.

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Restraint Bias

Overconfidence in one's self-control over impulsive behavior.

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Rosy Retrospection

Tendency to remember past events more positively than they occurred.

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Salience Bias

Tendency to focus on prominent or emotionally impactful information.

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Self-serving Bias

Tendency to attribute success to oneself and failures to external factors.

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Serial Position Effect

Recall bias towards initial and final items in a list.

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Sexual Overperception Bias

Overestimating others' sexual interest based on ambiguous interactions.

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Social Norms

Understanding and leveraging shared behaviors to influence group actions.

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Source Confusion

Misattribution of information's origin, affecting recall and decision-making.

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Spacing Effect

The strategic use of intervals to optimize learning and retention.

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Spotlight Effect

Overestimating others' notice and evaluation of our actions.

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Status Quo Bias

Inclination towards maintaining current decisions, behaviors, or objects.

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Suggestibility

The inclination to accept and act on suggestions of others.

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Survivorship Bias

Overlooking failures, focusing only on successful outcomes for analysis.

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Take-the-best Heuristic

A decision-making strategy prioritizing the most informative cues.

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Telescoping Effect

Overestimation of recent events while underestimating distant ones.

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The Illusion of Explanatory Depth

Overestimating understanding of complex concepts until asked to explain.

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The Pygmalion effect

Expectations influence performance and outcomes in individuals or groups.

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The Sunk Cost Fallacy

An irrational commitment to past investments influencing current decisions.

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Zero Risk Bias

Preference for eliminating a small risk completely over reducing a larger one.

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