How to do effective research in an irrational world
summary
Anecdotes and experiments show users lie to future, present and past: a focus group all say they’ll buy the new product yet every person takes the £30 voucher; Dan Ariely’s Economist decoy flips choices when the useless option is removed; judges grant parole 65% to 0% across a day; Elizabeth Loftus finds 25% false memories for fabricated childhood events. Use recorded behaviour and analytics, pull email/WhatsApp timestamps, run longitudinal check‑ins twice a week, and design tests that simulate hot vs cold mental states rather than rely on stated preferences.
AI-written summary · about
chapters (10)
- 0:00Irrational user behavior
- 1:55Why research fails
- 4:44Cognitive biases in research
- 6:51Users can't predict future
- 12:10System one vs system two
- 17:04Hot and cold states
- 20:12Why people can't remember the past accurately
- 30:25Social desirability bias
- 38:29Introspection illusion
- 43:58Designing despite irrationality
related talks
39mHow to DESTROY any idea with a little (really, too little) Psychology.
38mThe Psychology of UX
35mCognitive Biases and the User Experience
22mIrrational Retail and the Science of Buying -
48mThe Psychology of UX
40mDesigning an Intentional Future With UXR
27mUser Research for everyone
55mHow Green Was My Delusion: Perception and Reality in UX