Users don’t make rational decisions; users make subconscious decisions

We like to believe that every decision we make is rational. This belief is ignorance. Everyone makes subconscious decisions. People repulsively make decisions based on bias. Why? Because we are unaware of our bias blind spot.

One bias is the illusion of control. The illusion of control is when you think you have control over a situation when you don’t. No one wants to feel they have no control. If we have no control, we can’t change the fate of an outcome in our favor. We feel like we lost free will. The idea is terrifying, so we convince ourselves we always have control.

Another bias is the mere-exposure effect. The mere-exposure effect is when you like something because you’ve seen it before, even if you don’t remember it. Have you ever heard of nostalgia? Although the book didn’t state it, nostalgia is an example of the mere-exposure effect. We feel nostalgia when rewatching movies and shows from our childhood. Sometimes these shows contain a ridiculous plot and bland acting. However, we watch these moves and shows with admiration because we are familiar with them. They remind us of a time when life was simpler.

As a designer or a writer, you can exploit biases to achieve your agenda through choice architecture. Choice architecture is when an environment is designed to influence the inhabitants in their decision-making. This connects with the illusion of control bias. If we present the information in a compelling organization to cause our audience to agree with our agenda (like adding content they’re familiar with to evoke the mere-exposure effect), they will believe they naturally developed that conclusion. Our audience believes they were in control of their ideas when they weren’t.