Very useful reading on the addictive patterns built into UX to make content sticky. One that resonated most with me was design to trigger the fear of loss
"A common tactic used by e-commerce sites–especially travel and hotel booking sites–is a window that pops up saying “45 people are also viewing this product/property/reservation.”
I am notoriously bad at planning vacations. A week ahead of the date of departure would be quite remarkable. So it is no surprise that I encounter many such random numbers warning me that my luck will run out in minutes as I try to book flights, hotels and more with two days to spare.
It always struck me as odd as to how many people were fighting for this one deplorable room in a pretty unremarkable hotel exactly for the duration of my rather odd travel dates. The social engineering aspects of this design trick are too obvious to miss and yet in a high stress situation it might make a person click that buy button.
The first offender in the list is the infinite scroll and most definitely deserves to be number one
This kind of design is meant to create something the psych world calls “variable reinforcement schedules.” It’s the variability in the reward, the unpredictability of when they’ll come, that keeps us scrolling and scrolling and clicking and clicking. It forms a habit in the brain that can lead to compulsive behavior
"A common tactic used by e-commerce sites–especially travel and hotel booking sites–is a window that pops up saying “45 people are also viewing this product/property/reservation.”
I am notoriously bad at planning vacations. A week ahead of the date of departure would be quite remarkable. So it is no surprise that I encounter many such random numbers warning me that my luck will run out in minutes as I try to book flights, hotels and more with two days to spare.
It always struck me as odd as to how many people were fighting for this one deplorable room in a pretty unremarkable hotel exactly for the duration of my rather odd travel dates. The social engineering aspects of this design trick are too obvious to miss and yet in a high stress situation it might make a person click that buy button.
The first offender in the list is the infinite scroll and most definitely deserves to be number one
This kind of design is meant to create something the psych world calls “variable reinforcement schedules.” It’s the variability in the reward, the unpredictability of when they’ll come, that keeps us scrolling and scrolling and clicking and clicking. It forms a habit in the brain that can lead to compulsive behavior
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