In this session, you will learn more about the links between behavioural science and user experience. We will also introduce some behavioural science frameworks and models you can adopt to improve your user research and design work.

1. Behavioural science –
Approaches to improve UX
Breakfast Briefing
March 2023
Duncan Stephen – Principal User Experience Consultant

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About
• We’ve been helping clients apply
customer insights since 2000.
• Our services span the spectrum of
human-centred design, from strategic
UX thinking, through research and
end-to-end service design.
• We are leaders in the area of
accessibility, ensuring inclusive design
for all.
• We live in Edinburgh, but also have
homes in London and Dubai
• We’ve worked with clients in more than
50 locations around the world,
spanning most sectors

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About Duncan Stephen
Principal User Experience Consultant
• Significant experience in enabling people to
adopt human-centred approaches to the delivery
and continuous improvement of services,
websites and digital products.
• Expertise in implementing agile ways of working
and service design approaches.
• Projects include work with healthcare, education,
financial services and government departments.
• Background in social sciences, with a particular
focus on economics and behavioural science,
helps me understand what makes people tick.

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So what does economics have to
do with user experience?
economics (/ˌɛkəˈnɒmɪks/) is the social
science that studies the production, distribution,
and consumption of goods and services.
Economics focuses on the behaviour and
interactions of economic agents…
Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economics

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Steve Krug — Don’t Make Me Think
Steve Krug — Rocket Surgery Made Easy
Donald Norman — The Psychology of Everyday Things
Jeff Gothelf & Josh Seiden — Lean UX
Richard Thaler & Cass Sunstein — Nudge
Daniel Kahneman — Thinking, Fast and Slow

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Common approaches
between user
experience and
behavioural science

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Affordances

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An affordance is a relationship
between the properties of an
object and the capabilities of
the agent that determine just
how the object could possibly
be used.
Donald Norman

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NHS Couch to 5k app
www.nhs.uk/live-well/exercise/running-and-aerobic-exercises/get-running-with-couch-to-5k

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East framework

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East framework
The Behavioural Insights Team in 2012 identified “four simple
ways to apply behavioural insights”.
Make it:
► Easy
► Attractive
► Social
► Timely
“East: Four simple ways to apply behavioural insights”, The Behavioural Insights Team, 2015.
www.bi.team/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/BIT-Publication-EAST_FA_WEB.pdf
Example: Harness the power of defaults.
Example: Use images to attract attention.
Example: Show that most people perform the desired behaviour.
Example: Prompt people when they will be most receptive.

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East framework
“The East framework… cannot be
applied in isolation from a good
understanding of the nature and
context of the problem.”
— Behavioural Insights Team
The Behavioural Insights Team have identified
four steps to building your understanding.
These steps align strongly with common user
experience approaches.

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Elements of user experience
User needs and
business objectives
Functional and
content requirements
Visual design
Content design and
interface design
IA and
interaction design
Step 1: Define the outcome
What’s the point?
Establish clarity of purpose.
What is the behaviour we want to
change?
How do we measure our success at
that?
Conception
Completion
User needs and
business objectives
Jesse James Garret, The Elements of User Experience (2000): www.jjg.net/elements

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Step 1: Define the outcome
Understand how you will
measure the outcome
What are our objectives?
What does success look like?
Measure how well we’re doing now.

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Step 2: Understand the context
Carry out contextual enquiry
Gather insights by visiting people in
their own environments and
understanding their context.
Conduct interviews.
Carry out usability testing on your
existing product.

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Step 2: Understand the context
This aligns to iterative human-
centred design activities
Certified Practitioner for Usability and User
Experience Foundation (CPUX-F)
uservision.co.uk/training
Understand
context of use
Specify user
requirements
Design
solutions to
meet user
requirements
Evaluate
designs
against user
requirements
Understand
context of use

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Step 3: Build your intervention
Consider how your insights
apply to the problem at hand.
Generate ideas.
Create prototypes.

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Step 3: Build your intervention
Design solutions to meet your
users’ requirements.
Task models.
Information architecture.
Prototypes.
Understand
context of use
Specify user
requirements
Design
solutions to
meet user
requirements
Evaluate
designs
against user
requirements
Design
solutions to
meet user
requirements
Specify user
requirements

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Step 4: Test, learn and adapt
Put your new concepts into
practice. Measure its effects.
Test initial concepts using prototypes
to learn and adapt at an early stage.
Conduct usability testing on an
iterative basis as your solution matures.

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Step 4: Test, learn and adapt
Evaluate designs against your
users’ requirements.
An iterative process that returns to the
previous steps.
Use evaluations to inform these
ongoing iterations.
Understand
context of use
Specify user
requirements
Design
solutions to
meet user
requirements
Evaluate
designs
against user
requirements
Evaluate
designs
against user
requirements

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Step 4: Test, learn and adapt
Parallels with Lean UX
methodology
Jeff Gothelf and Josh Seiden, Lean UX (2013).
Declare
assumptions
Create a
minimum viable
product
Run an
experiment
Gather feedback
through research

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Com-B
A model that helps us understand the context

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Com-B
Capability
Motivation
Opportunity
Behaviour
Susan Michie, Maartje M van Stralen and Robert West (2011)
https://doi.org/10.1186/1748-5908-6-42

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Com-B
Capability:
Knowledge, skills or capacity
For example:
Whether you know how to cook
healthy meals.
Capability
Motivation
Opportunity

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Com-B
Opportunity:
Aspects external to the person
For example:
Whether you have the time to cook.
Opportunity
Capability
Motivation

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Com-B
Motivation:
Conscious reflective
processes, or habits
For example:
Thinking: “I should change my diet.”
Can also include automatic processes
like habits.
Motivation
Capability
Opportunity

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Com-B
Capability
Motivation
Opportunity
Behaviour
Susan Michie, Maartje M van Stralen and Robert West (2011)
https://doi.org/10.1186/1748-5908-6-42
Behaviour

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Universal barriers
Capability Opportunity Motivation
Interface / interaction
capability
Awareness
Comprehension
Time
Finance
Access
Evidence
Self-confidence
Emotional state
Trust
Enthusiasm
Ute Schauberger:
uteschauberger.com/barrierstoaccess.html
Capability Opportunity Motivation

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Create
A framework to understand what people do in the
moment within a product

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Create framework
6 factors must align for someone to take a conscious action.
► Cue
► Reaction
► Evaluation
► Ability
► Timing
► Experience
Stephen Wendel (2020), Designing for Behaviour Change: Applying Psychology and Behavioural Economics.
Prompt leads to consideration of an action.
Emotionally respond to the cue.
Consider of costs and benefits of acting.
Assess feasibility of acting.
Gauge urgency to inform when to act.
Positive feeling embeds behaviour change.

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Conclusion

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Behavioural science and user experience
User experience has a strong history of borrowing approaches
from social sciences.
We should keep up to date with developments.
Parallels between these disciplines are surprisingly common.
Developments in behavioural science inform user experience practice, giving us
an opportunity to further formalise them and bring a new level of robustness.

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Questions?

35. @UserVision
www.uservision.co.uk
hello@uservision.co.uk
55 North Castle Street
Edinburgh
EH2 3QA
United Kingdom
Tel: 0131 225 0850
@UserVision
www.uservision.co.uk
hello@uservision.co.uk
55 North Castle Street
Edinburgh
EH2 3QA
United Kingdom
Tel: 0131 225 0850
Duncan Stephen
Principal User Experience Consultant