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: DURATION EFFECTS

PERCEPTION OF TIME IS RELATIVE.

How might this apply to your business?
If people must wait for you to run a routine or complete a cycle before getting feedback, create the perception that things are moving faster than they are. Reveal part of the process as it is completing rather than show everything all at once. Or, offer a distraction: people who are mentally engaged in a task or present in the moment of an experience don’t notice how long it takes.

See also: Humor Effect, Appropriate Challenges, Sequencing, Shaping, Affect Heuristic

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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: Humor Effect

HUMOROUS ITEMS ARE MORE EASILY REMEMBERED—AND ENJOYED!

How might this apply to great teams and cultures?

The basic principle of humor is that it is unexpected in some way. In learning contexts, use humor to:

• Ease new knowledge acquisition and retention

• Reduce hostility

• Deflect criticism

• Relieve tension

• Improve morale

• Help communicate difficult messages

How might this apply to your business?

Humor can be a useful tool in the sales person's toolbox, but it must be used with care. When people are relaxed, they trust more and will hence share more personal information, accept 'facts' from others and generally be willing to buy. Humor is a way of relaxing people and can easily put them in a good mood.

Some companies build humor into their entire brand. Delta, SouthWest Airlines, and Virgin are examples of organizations that incorporate humor into their brand. These companies can legitimately make fun of themselves, though they are yet deadly serious about delivering excellent customer experience.

Almost any online test is an opportunity to add humor. But don’t stop there: think about interactions and how they can be made humorous. Just as humor is injected into a conversation, we can easily add humor to hover actions, button clicks, three-step processes and other user actions.

Consider

Humor is a surprisingly useful and subtle way of persuading. How do you incorporate the element of surprise or humor to spark interest in what you are doing?

See Also

Affect Heuristic, Peak-End Rule, Surprise, Delighters

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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: PRIMING

SUBTLE VISUAL OR VERBAL SUGGESTIONS HELP US RECALL SPECIFIC INFORMATION, INFLUENCING HOW WE RESPOND.

How might this apply to your business?
Choose images or words suggesting a specific concept you’d like associated with an interaction. This can include everything from subtle micro copy beneath a form field to the style of photography used on a page. You can set expectations and direct what is brought into short-term memory by choosing predictable associations. Also examine what is suggested by the imagery and language on your site.

See also: Anchoring & Adjustment, Visual Imagery, Conceptual Metaphor, Humor Effect, Sensory Appeal

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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.