Notes on Psychological Principles

Psychological Principles in Team Strategy

  • Psychological principles often come in hindsight.
  • Interesting psychological principles are surprising and get shared online.
  • Basic, unsurprising principles (e.g., less text on screens) are rooted in human psychology and are applied for better results.

BF Skinner and Random Rewards

  • Random rewards, inspired by BF Skinner, are used in many popular games.
  • Treasure chests and roulette systems exemplify random rewards.
  • Duolingo adopted random rewards after observing their effectiveness in other games.

Growth Mindset Experiment

  • Duolingo implemented the growth mindset by using in-lesson coach messages.
  • Messages like "Even when you're making mistakes, you're still learning" performed better than generic congratulations.
  • The motivator's presence significantly impacted user engagement.

Applying Psychological Principles

  • Running experiments and asking "how does this feel?" are important questions to tap into emotions and motivations.
  • The delight aspect, like Duo showing up quickly on the phone, enhances user experience.
  • Understanding what it's like to use the product is crucial, akin to thinking about psychology from the user's perspective.

Application to Different Products

  • Motivation is key; core concepts apply to different products, but tactics may vary.
  • For a health product, the gamification aspects might be different but still relevant (e.g., rewards, advancement).
  • Concepts apply even in B2B contexts because there are people behind the businesses.

Peak Motivation Moments

  • Travel and New Year's resolutions are peak high motivation moments for language learning.
  • Duolingo aims to help users keep their New Year's resolutions by maximizing that mindset.
  • They considered a coach concept specific to New Year's resolutions to send tailored messages.

Onboarding and User Engagement

  • New users are highly motivated, so it's important to engage them as much as possible initially.
  • Games often level up users quickly at the start to show progress.
  • Duolingo focuses on getting users to their goals quickly and keeping them engaged through relevant content.