7/15/22, 2:10 PM Psychology in UX.

Kaartik Malhotra | Product Design at… | by Kaartik Malhotra | Jun, 2022 | Bootcamp

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Psychology in UX
Kaartik Malhotra | Product Design at Spinny

Psychology is one of the most diverse branches of science. It provides us an insight to a

human brain, which can not only allow us to understand our fellow human beings better,
but also empathise with them on an emotional scale.

With the growing market of UX, incorporating psychology to provide a better

experience, or increase your business is something that hasn’t been exploited widely.

But before we dive deep into how psychology can be used and incorporated into the
field of UX, let’s first understand the 5 basic personality types of humans.

The OCEAN Model of Personality

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Image Credits: Very Well Mind

In the 1990s, a theory gained popularity, which is called the OCEAN Model of
Personality types, or The Big Five Personality Traits. According to this theory, majority
of the population is divided into 5 buckets.

1. Openness to experience

2. Conscientiousness

3. Extraversion

4. Agreeableness

5. Neuroticism

To understand these personality types, let’s break them down individually.

Openness to experience
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People with high “Openness to experience” are intellectually curious, open to emotion,
sensitive to beauty and are wiling to try new things. They tend to be, when compared to
closed people, more creative and more aware of their feelings. They are also more likely
to hold unconventional beliefs and challenge the accepted norms.

Conversely, people with low openness can be perceived as unpredictability or lack of

focus, and more likely to engage in risky behaviour or drug-taking.

How does this impact UX?

Certain professions require people to be high/low in openness. Based on how your

product is positioned in the market, and what your majority audience’s profession is,
you should curate your product in that manner.

Example: If your product primarily caters to artists, you can safely assume that their
openness marker is high, therefore, you can experiment with your elements, strategies
and more.

Conscientiousness

It is a tendency to display self-discipline, act dutifully, and strive for achievement

against measures or outside expectations. It is related to the way in which people
control, regulate, and direct their impulses. High conscientiousness is often perceived
as being stubborn and focused. Low conscientiousness is associated with flexibility and
spontaneity, but can also appear as sloppiness and lack of reliability.

How does this impact UX?

While designing products for highly conscientiousness, you have to keep in mind that
they might not be impressed by new/tricky flows, or design elements. They like to have
things simple and in proper order. Therefore, not deviating from standards, and having
descriptive UX Copy is a good place to start

Example: While designing B2B products, the likelihood of high conscientious audience
is quite high, therefore having descriptive products, and carefully designed interfaces
where the user feels in control will be great way to go forward.
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It is characterised by breadth of activities (as opposed to depth), surgency from

external activity/situations, and energy creation from external means. The trait is
marked by pronounced engagement with the external world. Extraverts enjoy
interacting with people, and are often perceived as full of energy. They tend to be
enthusiastic, action-oriented individuals. They possess high group visibility, like to talk,
and assert themselves.

How does this impact UX?

While designing products for extraverted people, you have to keep in mind that they will
be keen on interacting a lot, therefore, having content heavy interfaces with a primary
focus on media is a good place to start.

Example: Facebook and Instagram are prime examples of products for highly
extraverted people. They possess high content in the form of media and text,
respectively. They make sure that these highly extraverted people are engaged in some
way or the other. Latest addition to this the advent of Instagram Reels.

Agreeableness
This trait reflects individual differences in general concern for social harmony.
Agreeable individuals value getting along with others. They are generally considerate,
kind, generous, trusting and trustworthy, helpful, and willing to compromise their
interests with others. Agreeable people also have an optimistic view of human nature.

Disagreeable individuals place self-interest above getting along with others. They are
generally unconcerned with others’ well-being and are less likely to extend themselves
for other people. Sometimes their skepticism about others’ motives causes them to be
suspicious, unfriendly, and uncooperative.

How does this impact UX?

While designing products, you have to understand whether your user base will be as
agreeable users or disagreeable users. Sometimes, the context of the product also
switches these traits within the same person. Example: While ordering food on Zomato,
one might be moderately — highly agreeable, but the very same person, when buying a
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car on Spinny might be highly disagreeable.

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So, we as designers have to first understand the context of the product and act
accordingly.

Example: While designing products for highly disagreeable people, we have to keep in
mind that they place their self-interests on top, and might be untrusting, therefore, to
help them out, minor UX enhancements like adding a “Recommended” section, or a
“Best Seller” tag/rating next to an item, helps them gain trust and make a decision.

Neuroticism

It is the tendency to experience negative emotions, such as anger, anxiety, or

depression. It is sometimes called emotional instability, or is reversed and referred to as
emotional stability. According to a theory of personality, neuroticism is interlinked with
low tolerance for stress or aversive stimuli.

How does this impact UX?

While drafting content for your products, if your user base contains highly neurotic
people, you have to make sure that the UX Copy should always have a reassuring tone
of voice so that it does not arouse anxiety, or instability in your users.

Example: While designing banking products, or any transaction related products, if

anything goes wrong vis-a-vis users’ money, the likelihood of them acting neurotic is
quite high, therefore, having a reassuring tone of voice throughout your UX Copy would
not only calm them down, but also allow them act rationally and find a solution to their
issue almost immediately.

Few other tips and tricks

These tips can help you in enhancing your business using psychology and UX.

Urgency and impatience

In case of ride hailing services, impatience at the users end can be exploited.

Example: If the user’s phone battery is low, and he/she is trying to book a cab, you can
up the prices and increase your business as the user won’t have time to
research/compare prices with other ride hailing services.
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research/compare prices with other ride hailing services.
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Gender
According to 1991 theory, females in the age bracket of 22–35 are less research focused
than men, therefore, the likelihood of them comparing prices between competitors in
service based products is quite low. One can easily exploit this fact by upping the price
of service for females from time to time.

Location

In case of travel based products like Makemytrip, if the user is accessing your product
from a secluded location with not many hotels and requires an urgent booking, you can
up the price as he/she may not have that many options available at that very moment.

Conclusion
This was just a teaser of how psychology can be used to enhance user experience and
improve your business, the possibilities are endless. Stay tuned for more!

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