Cognitive Scaffold

Preparing your thinking workspace

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MENTAL MODEL · M1013

Dark Patterns

Dark Patterns
CreateHigh supportDesign Thinking
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Version 1.0.0 · Updated 2026-07-30

CORE DEFINITION

A carefully designed user interface intended to deceive or induce users to act against their original intentions (e.g., making the 'Cancel Subscription' button nearly invisible, or pre-checking insurance at checkout).

SCAFFOLDING EFFECT

psychology

Reduce cognitive load

- Defensive design: As a user, recognize these tricks (e.g., 'roach motel' - easy to enter, hard to exit) to protect your wallet; as a practitioner, hold the line and do no evil.

anchor

Anchor fast decisions

Refers to product interfaces deliberately inducing users to act against their intentions (e.g., pre-checked boxes, creating urgency, obstructing cancellation), exploiting cognitive biases for profit.

MINIMUM ACTION

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Practice this model in one real situation:

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Source support: Explicit

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    zh.wikipedia.orghttps://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%A4%9C%E9%96%93%E6%A8%A1%E5%BC%8FZH · Explicit
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RELATED MODELS

Related model

Double Diamond Model

Proposed by the British Design Council.

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How Might We / HMW

A questioning format that transforms pain points or challenges into opportunities.

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Theory of Planned Behavior, TPB

The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) is a behavioral decision model proposed by Icek Ajzen, primarily used to predict and understand human behavior. The TPB model mainly consists of components such as behavioral beliefs, attitude toward the behavior, normative beliefs, subjective norm, control beliefs, perceived behavioral control, behavioral intention, and behavior. Currently, the TPB has been applied in research fields related to behavior, such as advertising, marketing, public relations, healthcare, sports management, sustainability, and environmental protection.

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