Behavioral Principles | Finsights Guide

Active choice

Encouraging decision makers to make active selections between options by removing defaults.

Anchoring

People’s judgments are skewed by initial estimates.

Cognitive overload

People become overwhelmed when too much information or stimulus is presented to them.

Conflicting mental models

People´s beliefs or knowledge about something doesn´t match its true characteristics.

Default bias

People pick the easiest option to avoid complex decisions. Defaults provide a cognitive shortcut and signal what people are supposed to do.

Descriptive social norms

Influence on one's behavior by sharing information on what most people actually do

Framing

People's decisions are based on how information is presented to them.

Fresh start effect

People are motivated to pursue their goals at the start of a new milestone.

Friction

Anything that acts as a logistical barrier when attempting to perform an action.

Halo effect

People leverage one positive trait of a person, product, or company to inform their impression of other traits.

Illusion of control

People believe they can control outcomes that are beyond their control.

Information Avoidance

People actively avoid information that conflicts with their own beliefs.

Injunctive social norms

Influence on one's behavior according to perceived approval/disapproval of others.

Intention-action gap

The disconnect between one's intention and their behavior.

Limited attention

People have limited attention, which is directed by task completion or salient elements in the environment.

Loss aversion

People tend to feel the pain of losses more significantly than the pleasure of equivalent gains.

Mental accounting

People categorize and treat money differently depending on where it came from and where it is going.

Mere exposure effect

People prefer an option that they are familiar with.

Mistrust

The lack of confidence in people, systems, products or organizations.

Planning fallacy

People consistently underestimate how long things will take and how many resources they will require.

Pre-commitment

Consequences and roadblocks one sets up to keep them on track. These are temptation busters.

Present bias

People value immediate rewards over future rewards, even if future ones are larger.

Priming

Exposure to a stimulus influences people's responses to subsequent stimulus.

Procrastination

People tend to delay actions that must occur by a time in the future without a reasonable explanation for the delay.

Regret aversion

People fear making the wrong decision.

Risk aversion

People prefer certainty over uncertainty.

Salience

Any detail or element that noticeably stands out.

Scarcity mindset

When faced with a scarce resource, people focus their attention on solving for it, while taxing and diminishing their cognitive performance.

Scope insensitivity

People have inconsistent valuations of problems and decisions as they scale-up or scale-down.

Social proof

People conform to the behavior of others.

Status quo bias

People have a tendency to maintain their status quo, even in light of potential gains from making a change.

Trusted messenger

People regarded as credible sources of information.

Uncertainty avoidance

People have a tendency to avoid uncertain situations and are drawn to certain gain opportunities.

What-the-hell effect

People give up on getting back on track.

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