DescriptionWar stories in organizations are not literal stories of international military conflict, although they do tell of trials and troubles and how people survived and overcame the events that afflicted them.War stories are typically told at meetings, conferences, and social settings, where old and young corporate warriors swap tales of what trials they survived and how hard it was, much as their military counterparts may tell and re-tell of their exploits.ExampleBill Gates and Steve Jobs never quite got along. Over the course of 30-plus years, the two went from cautious allies to bitter rivals to something almost approaching friends — sometimes, they were all three at the same time. It seems unlikely that Apple would be where it is today without Microsoft, or Microsoft without Apple. Their story here.But when we reminisce, it's more about how life felt "in those days." We worked long hours, didn't get paid well, there were public arguments, backstabbing, sabotage--and through it all there were foxhole buddies that helped us through.DiscussionWar stories are typically told as ways of nostalgic invocation of past trials. When told with old colleagues, they re-affirm bonds of friendship and shared experience. When told to younger colleagues, they may demonstrate authority or other superiority, giving evidence of their prowess. When a younger person tells the story, perhaps they are saying 'Hey, I'm a tough guy too!'By re-telling the stories, the teller also re-experiences them, gaining again the sense of excitement and danger, though now within a safe present.War stories may also be told as a form of bragging, and competitions may arise as the warriors try to out-do each other with increasingly amazing stories (and maybe increasing elaboration).
MENTAL MODELS: UNIFORM CONNECTEDNESS
ELEMENTS THAT ARE CONNECTED BY UNIFORM VISUAL PROPERTIES ARE PERCEIVED AS BEING MORE RELATED THAN ELEMENTS THAT ARE NOT CONNECTED.
How might this apply to your business?
Imagine a page on your site blurred just enough to be unreadable. What content areas are visually connected? Should they be? What items aren’t connected but should be? This is especially useful with form design,, spreadsheets and other areas where you have many discrete pieces of information that may or may not related to each other.
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In the whirl of our day-to-day interactions, it’s all too easy to forget the nuances that distinguish great teams, great cultures, and great products/services.
Mental Model Flash Cards bring together insights from psychology into an easy reference and brainstorming tool. Each card describes one insight into human behavior and suggests ways to apply this to your teams as well as the design of your products and services.
MENTAL MODELS: GIFTING
WE FEEL THE NEED TO RECIPROCATE WHEN WE RECEIVE A GIFT.
How might this apply to your business?
What can you give away? It could be a free account or an upgrade. Maybe a free report—for example, personal informatics are interesting. Perhaps a gift card. Make it something unexpected. And if other similar services are giving away the same thing, it’s not a gift—it’s expected.
See also: Delighters, Variable Rewards, Shaping, Sequencing, Triggers
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In the whirl of our day-to-day interactions, it’s all too easy to forget the nuances that distinguish great teams, great cultures, and great products/services.
Mental Model Flash Cards bring together insights from psychology into an easy reference and brainstorming tool. Each card describes one insight into human behavior and suggests ways to apply this to your teams as well as the design of your products and services.
MENTAL MODELS: REPUTATION
WE CARE MORE DEEPLY ABOUT PERSONAL BEHAVIORS WHEN THEY AFFECT HOW PEERS OR THE PUBLIC PERCEIVE US.
How might this apply to your business?
Are actions tied back to a profile or an identifying piece of information? In online social contexts, sharing actions (or a subset of actions) with others helps encourage good conduct. People build reputation through things like sharing information, connecting people, and keeping a record of their personal activities. While identity is often site-specific, consider ways to use the external identities people have built.
See also: Status, Social Proof, Authority, Self-Expression, Loss-Aversion, Authority, Positive Mimicry, Autonomy
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In the whirl of our day-to-day interactions, it’s all too easy to forget the nuances that distinguish great teams, great cultures, and great products/services.
Mental Model Flash Cards bring together insights from psychology into an easy reference and brainstorming tool. Each card describes one insight into human behavior and suggests ways to apply this to your teams as well as the design of your products and services
MENTAL MODELS: LOSS-AVERSION
WE HATE LOSING OR LETTING GO OF WHAT WE HAVE (EVEN IF MORE COULD BE HAD).
How might this apply to your business?
What is lost by leaving your site? If sign up is your goal, let people play with your service (creating personal content they might want to save) before you ask for personal information. For ongoing accounts, offer things of perceived value that are lost by closing an account. Also, can you frame your value proposition to highlight what people already lose or miss out on by not using your service.
See also: Framing, Ownership Bias
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In the whirl of our day-to-day interactions, it’s all too easy to forget the nuances that distinguish great teams, great cultures, and great products/services.
Mental Model Flash Cards bring together insights from psychology into an easy reference and brainstorming tool. Each card describes one insight into human behavior and suggests ways to apply this to your teams as well as the design of your products and services.
MENTAL MODELS: RECOGNITION OVER RECALL
IT’S EASIER TO RECOGNIZE THINGS WE HAVE PREVIOUSLY EXPERIENCED THAN IT IS TO RECALL THEM FROM MEMORY.
How might this apply to your business?
Multiple-choice or one-click options are easier for people to interact with on a site. If you’re considering asking people to list things from memory, try complementing (or replacing) empty form fields with defined, random or intelligent choices that people can click on or rate.
See also: Visual Imagery, Limited Choices, Contrast, Feedback Loop
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In the whirl of our day-to-day interactions, it’s all too easy to forget the nuances that distinguish great teams, great cultures, and great products/services.
Mental Model Flash Cards bring together insights from psychology into an easy reference and brainstorming tool. Each card describes one insight into human behavior and suggests ways to apply this to your teams as well as the design of your products and services.
MENTAL MODELS: SHAPING
TO REACH SOMETHING NEW, START WITH THE SIMPLEST FORM OF BEHAVIOR, REINFORCE INCREASINGLY ACCURATE APPROXIMATIONS OF THE BEHAVIORS.
How might this apply to your business?
Video games use shaping to help players succeed at increasing challenges. Rather than immerse someone in your application, why not start with a small set of features and reveal more with use? Or, you could offer rewards for mastery of a subject or increasing proficiency to reach that behavior, reward completion of a step until mastered, then add in the next step as a prerequisite for receiving the reward.
See also: Sequencing, Variable Rewards
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In the whirl of our day-to-day interactions, it’s all too easy to forget the nuances that distinguish great teams, great cultures, and great products/services.
Mental Model Flash Cards bring together insights from psychology into an easy reference and brainstorming tool. Each card describes one insight into human behavior and suggests ways to apply this to your teams as well as the design of your products and services.
MENTAL MODELS: ACHIEVEMENTS
We are more likely to engage in activities in which meaningful achievements are recognized.
How might this apply to your business?
Achieving something of personal or social significance is gratifying and even motivating, more so when recognized in some way. In gaming environments, achievement is shows through points, badges, levels and other kinds of recognition. In other contexts, achievement is signaled by things like promotion, membership, privileges, and acquisitions. What challenges—tied to desired behaviors—do you have in place and what are the associated achievements?
See also: Appropriate Challenges, Feedback Loops, Competition, Reputation, Status, Story
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In the whirl of our day-to-day interactions, it’s all too easy to forget the nuances that distinguish great teams, great cultures, and great products/services.
Mental Model Flash Cards bring together insights from psychology into an easy reference and brainstorming tool. Each card describes one insight into human behavior and suggests ways to apply this to your teams as well as the design of your products and services.
MENTAL MODELS: AFFECT HEURISTIC
OUR CURRENT EMOTIONS INFLUENCE OUR JUDGMENT AND DECISIONS.
How might this apply to your business?
Even at our most rational times, emotions still govern our behaviors. So how are you stimulating specific emotions? A really great first impression can make up for errors later on. And when we are in a more relaxed state, solutions and workarounds are more likely to be found. Use aesthetics and language to elicit feelings such as humor, fear or pleasure.
See also: Priming, Humor Effect, Visual Imagery
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In the whirl of our day-to-day interactions, it’s all too easy to forget the nuances that distinguish great teams, great cultures, and great products/services.
Mental Model Flash Cards bring together insights from psychology into an easy reference and brainstorming tool. Each card describes one insight into human behavior and suggests ways to apply this to your teams as well as the design of your products and services.
MENTAL MODELS: CONCEPTUAL METAPHOR
WE MAKE SENSE OF A NEW IDEA OR CONCEPTUAL DOMAIN BY LIKENING IT TO ANOTHER.
How might this apply to your business?
How are you using visual imagery or evocative language to explain difficult concepts? Help people understand your message by drawing a literal or implied analogy. Use this association to help people understand a concept and to influence how it’s perceived.
See also: Priming, Framing, Visual Imagery
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In the whirl of our day-to-day interactions, it’s all too easy to forget the nuances that distinguish great teams, great cultures, and great products/services.
Mental Model Flash Cards bring together insights from psychology into an easy reference and brainstorming tool. Each card describes one insight into human behavior and suggests ways to apply this to your teams as well as the design of your products and services.