Rosenverse

Log in or create a free Rosenverse account to watch this video.

Log in Create free account

100s of community videos are available to free members. Conference talks are generally available to Gold members.

Uncovering the hidden forces shaping user behavior
Thursday, July 17, 2025 • Rosenfeld Community
Share the love for this talk
Uncovering the hidden forces shaping user behavior
Speakers: David Sternberg
Link:

Summary

Why do users behave in ways that seem so unpredictable? Traditional funnels and post-hoc analytics often miss the hidden forces behind hesitation, backtracking, and abandonment. This session with David Sternberg draws on Quantum-Fluid Dynamics to introduce a new dynamic framework for understanding and shaping user flow—revealing the competing motivations and cognitive forces at play. Join us to learn how to move beyond surface metrics to diagnose, predict, and influence user behavior with sharper insights, enabling smarter design decisions and saving your team time and resources.

Key Insights

  • Traditional UX methods like A/B testing and user journeys are reactive and observe user behavior post-facto, limiting proactive design.

  • User intent exists as a cloud of probabilistic potential actions, akin to quantum superposition, until an interaction collapses it into a decision.

  • The QFI model uses the analogy of fluid dynamics to describe user flows, with interface elements shaping paths like landscapes shape currents.

  • Momentum in UX reflects user motivation and energy, driving faster and more decisive interactions similar to strong fluid currents.

  • Friction or cognitive viscosity represents obstacles in the interface that slow or block user flow, causing frustration or abandonment.

  • Behavioral turbulence arises from breakdowns in flow, leading to chaotic, unpredictable user actions like rage taps or loops.

  • QFI introduces the concept of an intent Hamiltonian, representing forces altering user probabilistic states towards one outcome or another.

  • Interfaces should be designed to guide and choreograph intentions, shaping gradients of motivation and friction rather than forcing actions.

  • QFI is a scientific framework aiming to shift UX from craft relying on intuition to a predictive science based on models and measurements.

  • The framework supplements, not replaces, UX research and design; it amplifies understanding to generate better hypotheses and experiments.

Notable Quotes

"Human behavior is anything but linear, rational, or predictable."

"User intent exists in a probabilistic superposition of multiple possible actions until a choice is made."

"When you observe a quantum particle, its possible states collapse to one—just like user intent collapses to action."

"The interface you’ve designed is like a landscape shaping the flow of user behavior as water flows through a stream."

"Momentum in users is like energy in fluid—strong motivation drives fast, decisive movement."

"Friction isn’t just annoying; it’s a force that reshapes behavior and can slow or stop user flow."

"Behavioral turbulence happens when flow breaks down, causing chaotic and unpredictable user interactions."

"Every piece of product can be described using components like intent, viscosity, and flow—making UX a physics problem."

"With QFI, we go upstream: simulate, model, predict user behavior before shipping, not just react after."

"You don’t design interfaces anymore—you choreograph intentions."

Ask the Rosenbot
Dane DeSutter
Keeping the Body in Mind: What Gestures and Embodied Actions Tell You That Users May Not
2024 • Advancing Research 2024
Gold
Steve Sanderson
Discussion
2015 • Enterprise UX 2015
Gold
Jemma Ahmed
Theme Panel
2025 • Advancing Research 2025
Gold
Louis Rosenfeld
The Bigger Picture: A Panel Discussion
2019 • DesignOps Summit 2019
Gold
Harry Brignull
Beyond Clicks and Tricks: Why deceptive design has grown into a regulatory faultline
2026 • Rosenfeld Community
Kim Lenox
Leading Distributed Global Teams
2019 • Enterprise Community
Mike Davidson
Fireside Chat
2022 • Advancing Research 2022
Gold
Abbey Smalley
Today’s Design Ops and Programs Landscape & Career Paths
2023 • DesignOps Summit 2023
Gold
Mila Kuznetsova
How Lessons Learned from Our Youngest Users Can Help Us Evolve our Practices
2022 • Advancing Research 2022
Gold
Maria Taylor
Knowledge is Power: Managing the Lifeblood of the Design Org
2023 • DesignOps Summit 2023
Gold
Alissa Briggs
How to Coach Enterprise Experimentation
2015 • Enterprise UX 2015
Gold
Dr. Jamika D. Burge
Bridge Building across Research Disciplines
2021 • Advancing Research Community
Jim Kalbach
Jazz Improvisation as a Model for Team Collaboration
2017 • DesignOps Summit 2017
Gold
Edward Cupps
The Principal Path: Journeying from Management to Individual Contributor
2021 • Design at Scale 2021
Gold
Vincent Brathwaite
Opener: Past, Present, and Future—Closing the Racial Divide in Design Teams
2020 • DesignOps Summit 2020
Gold
Kristin Skinner
Opening Keynote: Org Design for Design Orgs
2017 • DesignOps Summit 2017
Gold

More Videos

Marc Rettig

"Most people don’t come to work to make their own life harder or work on a bad product."

Marc Rettig Julie Baher Phil Gilbert Nathan Shedroff

Discussion

May 14, 2015

Joanna Vodopivec

"Customer obsession is actually one of our key values, which makes my job as a researcher a little bit easier."

Joanna Vodopivec Prabhas Pokharel

One Research Team for All - Influence Without Authority

March 9, 2022

Robert Fabricant

"Research is no longer impartial; we’re navigating a changing landscape of trust."

Robert Fabricant

Shifting dynamics: The evolving relationship between researchers, participants, and organizational systems

March 11, 2025

Mila Kuznetsova

"Sometimes with kids, you just have to get artifactual data or creative outputs because they can’t always articulate."

Mila Kuznetsova Lucy Denton

How Lessons Learned from Our Youngest Users Can Help Us Evolve our Practices

March 9, 2022

Sarah Barrett

"You can’t make anyone else care. We’re asking the wrong question."

Sarah Barrett

The "How" of Enterprise Information Architecture

June 6, 2023

Jilanna Wilson

"We couldn’t find just one word to describe our third value so we made one up: humbladent—humble and confident together."

Jilanna Wilson

Distributed Design Operations Management

October 23, 2019

Megan Kierstead

"The more senior you become, the more focus shifts from methodology to interpersonal qualities like empathy and bravery."

Megan Kierstead

You Are a Badass at UX: Overcoming Imposter Syndrome

March 10, 2021

Rachael Dietkus, LCSW

"Design by means letting the people we serve lead the process and ourselves to drop our egos and let go."

Rachael Dietkus, LCSW Victor Udoewa Jennifer Strickland

Everything You Need to Know about the Civic Design 2022 Call for Presentations

May 17, 2022

Noah Bond

"It takes courage to push back against dominant culture and present dissenting opinions in organizations."

Noah Bond

Redefining truth and inclusivity: Navigating data ownership and ethical research in the age of disinformation

March 11, 2025