Choice architecture: Using fixation patterns to analyze the effects of form design on cognitive biases

Abstract

User-generated online reviews are an important input into purchase decisions, but are susceptible to cognitive biases, which ultimately undermine the reviews’ value. As even minor changes to the design of online environments (such as Web pages) can influence people’s behavior, design modifications to online review forms could help reduce biases. We hypothesize that design modifications to online forms can help reduce three common sources of biases (availability, anchoring, and response style), and propose an experiment that employs eye tracking and recording of mousing behavior to test the hypotheses.