Video summary
The video explores how top-tier products leverage behavioral psychology, using Duolingo as a prime example of an application that utilizes both effective and manipulative psychological tactics. On one hand, the app excels at gamification and social interaction to keep users engaged; on the other, it employs "dark psychology" by triggering loss aversion through emotional triggers like changing its icon into an angry bird when lessons are missed or sending sarcastic notifications asking why a user isn't playing. While these strategies can be effective in driving immediate engagement, they also risk alienating customers if overused, as users may eventually feel the interactions are unfair rather than helpful.
A more balanced approach to behavioral psychology is demonstrated by companies like Spotify and TfL (Transport for London), which successfully integrate psychological insights without crossing into manipulation. In one notable instance involving a premium account cancellation screen, instead of simply asking "Are you sure?", the interface highlighted valuable assets users would lose, such as ad-free listening and thousands of downloaded items. This copywriting technique effectively appealed to user sentiment by framing the decision in terms of what they stand to gain or lose, thereby improving the overall experience. Similarly, TfL worked with designers who translated complex psychological concepts into plain English for stakeholders, avoiding jargon entirely to ensure everyone understood how these principles could improve their product without needing specialized knowledge.
A significant challenge discussed throughout the video is communicating behavioral insights to non-designer stakeholders who are often focused purely on metrics like gross profit and retention numbers rather than user behavior. Junior designers frequently struggle when trying to explain psychological nuances, only to be met with requests for simple solutions that ignore underlying biases. The speaker notes a pivotal career moment where they learned to strip away scientific terminology and relate concepts to everyday experiences, such as how people instinctively pick items from the middle shelf in a supermarket rather than reaching high or low shelves. By anchoring abstract psychological theories in familiar real-world scenarios, designers can bypass resistance and help stakeholders see that these principles are essentially common sense applied to better decision-making.
Ultimately, the video concludes that while many companies do not openly discuss their use of behavioral psychology due to fear of appearing manipulative, thoughtful application leads to significantly better products. The key takeaway for designers is to master the art of simplification: removing jargon and connecting ideas directly to the audience's daily life so that even those focused on financial figures can grasp the value proposition. Researching user behaviors early in the design process allows teams to filter out biases and address real needs, but this must be communicated with clarity and empathy. As designers grow professionally, they learn to pivot away from passionate tangents filled with technical words toward clear, relatable messages that persuade stakeholders by showing exactly why a psychological approach is beneficial for both users and business goals.
Read the full video transcript
Do you think the best products in the
world take into account behavioral
psychology?
>> Who's doing it well and who's not doing
it well? There's some that take it to
the extreme. Dualingo is a is example of
both ends. It's hard to kind of pinpoint
something they're not doing from a
psychology perspective. They do certain
things really well, but there are other
things they're doing that actually
misuse psychology. They do a hell of a
lot of gamification, but they do a lot
of, you know, social interaction and
[music] bringing people in. That is dark
psychology in so many ways.
>> Are there any war stories around trying
to communicate biases to stakeholders?
>> Psychology is common sense. You take
away the scientific jargon, simplify it
into a way that everybody speaks. As
long as you're associating it to
understandable in your everyday life,
that is where I've seen the worst. Do
you think the best products in the world
take into account behavioral psychology?
And uh do you have some examples of like
your favorite products that you're just
like, "Oh my god, they just nailed it."
[laughter]
>> Yeah, I mean I suppose so there's some
that take it to the extreme. The one
we're all aware of is going to be
Duolingo. Um you know that is uh dark
psychology in so many ways. you know,
especially on an emotional level when
you see your uh app icon change to an
angry bird because you've not done your
language lessons for the day. Like
that's really kind of honing in on that
uh you know, loss aversion of oh god,
you know, I'm I'm really missing out
here and this thing is angry because
it's happening. Um, and yeah, they they
do a lot, you know, they do a hell of a
lot of gamification, but they do a lot
of, you know, social interaction and
bringing people in, but, you know,
there's there's so many aspects they
it's hard to kind of pinpoint something
they're not doing from a psychology
perspective. And I think to your
question there around like, you know,
who's doing it well and who's not doing
it well, Dualingo is a is example of
both ends. like they do certain things
really well from a psychological
perspective, but there are other things
they're doing that actually misuse
psychology and if anything of the factor
are losing customers. So, you know, when
you're getting the notifications from uh
Dualingo to say, "What's up?" Like, "Why
are you not playing with me?" kind of
thing in a really sarcastic way. All,
you know, I'm sure it's humorous and
everything, but when you've seen that a
few times in a couple of days, it's kind
of like, "No, I'm done with this. That's
not fair." Um, so yeah, they're really
interesting one. They do a lot. Um, I
think generally there's outwardly not
many companies talk about the psychology
behind the product. I think there are
some that that do talk about it, but I'd
love to hear more companies talk about
how they've considered psychology
because when I've done a lot of
different case studies and I've seen
where psychology is in practice, I can
see there's been some thought there. I
think I saw one the other day with
Spotify with um I think I was I was
testing cancelling my account from a
premium account and the copy they used
was something like are you sure you want
to lose out on you know adree listening
and thousands of downloaded items and
that kind of thing and it really
generally pulled on something that you
know made my experience better. So it
wasn't just a are you sure you want to
cancel this? it actually kind of like
pulled on some a good reason for why I
wouldn't.
>> So I think that was a really good
example where clearly they thought about
it. They thought about the psychology of
the copy. Um but yeah, I think there
there's still as people might see from
the case studies I've done on uxologists
and and other resources as well that do
it that yeah, there's a lot of places
where people just miss some of those key
points of if you'd have just thought
about it like this,
>> this could have been a ton better.
>> Right. Right. Um, are there any war
stories around trying to communicate
biases to stakeholders and for them just
being like, "Yeah, but I don't really
care. Like, we we should do this anyway,
but you're like, "Oh, but really, like,
you know, like this this could go really
wrong. Like, this could be really bad."
Any any war stories around that or
something like against the Yeah,
>> yeah, like what what's happened for sure
in the past? I mean definitely when I
was a much more junior designer and you
know yeah in your mind you know what's
right and you're going to people the the
thing we often find is you know
especially when you're talking to
stakeholders that are all about the
figures and they're all about the money
side of things and you're trying to talk
to them about psychology and it's not
really getting through to them and they
said look can we not just do something
simple here and just let's see if it
creates the uplift that kind of thing
that is that's where I've always found
the problem. I think kind of growing
through my career, the moment that
changed, I think was when I really
learned psychology and learned how to
communicate the understanding of that.
And the thing that I often say to
people, as I kind of said earlier, is
that psychology is kind of common sense.
Like when you boil it, when you kind of
you know simplify it into a way that
everybody speaks, you take away the
scientific jargon and you explain it in
a way of like we did with the being
overwhelmed with how much information
there is. Keeping [clears throat] it
simple to that we can say look in
general studies have found that people
you know need specific piece of
information. It's got to be relevant. If
there's too much information it just it
doesn't work. People don't know where to
click that kind of stuff. Um, as long as
you're putting it into plain English,
generally stakeholders understand. We
did a a project at my last company. We
worked we did a little project with with
Train Line, uh, which was really nice.
Um, lovely team that we wor with over at
Train Line and they just wanted to
understand kind of, you know, we started
talking about behavioral psychology and
how we were using it at global. Um, and
sorry, not Train Line, TfL. TfL, that's
a different company. Um and they wanted
to understand yeah how we were really
psychology and how we could or how they
could use it in their product. Um and
when we presented it um you know we we
use a bit of the jargon in there but you
know when we spoke to them in person
about it we just kept to the plain
English
>> and the important thing that we did do
as well is that we we associated it to
an everyday thing in life. So like I
said the supermarket story
>> you know when you are in there how do
you normally pick a product do you go
low do you go high or do you go middle
most people go middle and you know
that's the kind of winning one you're
kind of betting there it's going to be
that stakeholder in the room that always
goes top shelf but you know that as long
as you're associating it to a un
something that's understandable in your
everyday life it takes them out of the
mindset of specifically looking at the
product and thinking about this as if
they would tackle any other situation of
a similar context. That is where I've
seen the win. So yeah, it's war stories
is definitely always just it's down to
the misunderstanding
if anything.
>> Yeah. Yeah, that that that makes a ton
of sense. Yeah. Um yeah, the the minute
you kind of uh spout like jargon and
design or psychology only terms, you've
lost 90% of the room, right? Unless
you're speaking to a bunch of designers
or psychology geeks, like it's just know
your audience, right? Yeah.
>> Yeah.
>> Makes sense.
>> Yeah. Exactly. You learn this as you
grow as a designer, right? Like I
remember so many times being told, "Ban,
you talk so much fluff." Like, you know,
you you tell a really great point and
then you go off on this massive tangent
and it gets completely lost. And I go on
a tangent because one, you know, we're
passionate, right? like we want to talk
about all the great stuff of it, but but
also like what I'm trying to get across
is all my knowledge and I'm like, "Oh,
but I know these words. This is so
good." They don't care. They don't care.
I know these words. They just want me to
get to the point, right? So, yeah, you
just learn to say, "Right, what's going
to hit that simple message I can give
them that relates to them and helps them
understand why this is a good idea?"
>> Yeah. Um, it's funny because we we do
all like as designers I I think we try
our best to cater our message to the
people that we we speak to, we pitch to,
we try to persuade. However, sometimes
>> uh the stakeholders don't do the same,
right? They they will just say, you
know, like I don't know, gross profit or
retention and and then maybe for some
junior designers, they're like, what are
they talking about? What what does it
mean? So uh but in general I think uh
good teams try to keep it to a level
where everybody in the room can
understand and are on the same page and
and that's also just uh yeah and and
from your workshops today you guys have
probably done that as well right lots of
different stakeholders and designers in
the room just tried to be like okay well
what are we talking about what's the
simplest way to say this and and then
move forward from there I wanted to go
back to this question that Allison asked
because we we said to understand the
biases and the behaviors. Re research is
probably a a great place to start,
right? Start asking questions, getting
in the room uh before you do anything
and start just talking to people, right?
But are there any sort of strategies or
or things that you and your team do or
have done to sort of like filter out
these behaviors and actions and and
needs and wants and biases?
>> Well, listen to the full conversation.
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