The document discusses how to stimulate action through website design. It explains that actions are reason-driven, motivated by desires and guided by beliefs. While desires cannot be reasoned into, beliefs can be changed rationally, irrationally, or non-rationally. The key to satisfying users and stimulating the desired actions is addressing their beliefs rationally, by giving them beliefs that using the website can fulfill their desires.
3. In designing a website one of your aims is
to stimulate action
This is almost certainly the main aim of
your employer
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4. There are all sorts of different actions you might want to
stimulate
buying
following
liking
clicking through
recommending
reviewing
often youll want to stimulate several actions
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5. Well action is something that philosophers
know a lot about
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6. Distinguish tripping over a carpet and
pretending to trip over a carpet which is
an action and why?
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7. Pretending to trip over a carpet is an
action because:
it is chosen
it is performed intentionally
it is performed for reasons
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8. When human beings act they make
choices
When human beings make choices they do
so for reasons
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9. If we want to understand action,
therefore, and how to stimulate it, it
is necessary to understand reason
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10. To be rational is to be such that some of
your behaviour is reason-driven
Most rational things are such that most of
their behaviour is non-rational
To be rational is to be capable of being
irrational
Non-rational things are neither rational
nor irrational
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16. It is not possible to reason anyone
into a desire
It is only beliefs that we can be
reasoned into
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17. I understand that UX stands for User
Experience
and that it was born because your
main aim in designing a website
is to provide the user with
whatever he or she wants
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18. Unless you are offering something the
user wants youll never get anywhere
But the users wants desires are only
half the picture
The users beliefs about how to fulfil his
desires are the other half
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19. In fact given that there is little you can do
about your users desires
your main aim (I respectfully
submit!)
should be to give your user the
belief that
by using your website he can fulfil
(some of) his desires 19
21. all beliefs have contents
the contents of beliefs are constituted of
concepts
every belief is related to every other belief
beliefs admit truth and falsehood
beliefs are expressed in sentences
human beings care (to some extent) about
the truth of their beliefs
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23. A rational relation between beliefs:
Belief one: Marianne always wears
jeans on a Friday
Belief two: It is Friday
Belief three: Marianne is wearing jeans
The rational relation between these beliefs is
entailment
If beliefs one and two are true, belief three
must be true 23
24. These beliefs amount to a deductive
argument
Premise one: Marianne always
wears jeans on a Friday
Premise two: It is Friday
Conclusion: Marianne is wearing
jeans
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25. All arguments are relations between
beliefs such that
one belief is the conclusion
and the other beliefs are its
premises
(the reasons given for the
conclusion)
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26. There are two types of argument:
deductive arguments
inductive arguments
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27. Deductive arguments give us certainty
(conditionally on the truth of the
premises)
Valid deductive arguments are conclusive
Valid deductive arguments can be
evaluated a priori
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28. P1: All doodahs are whotsits
P2: All whotsits are green
C: This doodah is
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29. Irrational relations between beliefs:
Premise one: Marianne always
wears jeans on a
Friday
Premise two: Marianne is wearing
jeans
Conclusion: It is Friday
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31. Inductive reasoning takes us from observations of
the past to predictions about the future:
P1: I have seen the sun rise every day in the
history of the universe
C: I expect the sun to rise tomorrow
Inductive reasoning is hugely important to human
beings
Inductive argument is central to science
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33. The Scottish Philosopher David
Hume noted that
every inductive argument
contains a hidden premise
that nature is uniform (the
future will be like the past)
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34. This premise cannot be justified
deductively (it generates no
contradiction to believe that nature is
not uniform)
inductively (wed be arguing in a
circle)
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36. But it is clear that we can distinguish
between good inductive arguments and bad
inductive arguments:
Women who drink this brand of vodka
are beautiful, rich and attract the most
handsome men
If I drink this vodka I will become
beautiful, rich and start attracting the
most handsome men
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37. Philosophers live in hope of finding a
systematic way to distinguish
between good and bad inductions
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38. Summary:
actions are reason-driven
for an action to be reason-driven is for it to be:
motivated by desire
guided by belief
it is not possible to argue anyone into a desire
if you want to satisfy users desires it is their beliefs you
need to address
users beliefs can be changed and brought into being
rationally, irrationally or non-rationally
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39. If you want to inspire trust it is
always better to change someones
beliefs by rational means!
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