Principle of least astonishment: This is worth reading. It’s probably the core of usability theory. There’s a good example in the article.
the principle (or rule or law) of least astonishment (or surprise) states that, when two elements of an interface conflict, or are ambiguous, the behaviour should be that which will least surprise the human user or programmer at the time the conflict arises.
This is a really handy guideline to keep in mind, I've seen it brought up in everything from FreeBSD to WordPress.