Week_Six

							Theory of Affect

   Part One

   MS3305
Theory of Affect: Part One
The Theory of Affect

      Part One
      Not a theory of Effect
• Question:

• What is the difference between
  'affect' and 'effect'?
                 AskOxford.com
• To affect something is to change or influence it

• To effect something is a rather formal way of saying `to make it
  happen'.

• Confusingly, either may produce an 'effect' or result. ('An affect'
  is a technical term in psychology.)

• The stability of the wall was affected by passing lorries.
  The demolition of the wall was effected by the detonation of a
  charge of dynamite.

• The dynamite did not just 'affect' (influence) the demolition of
  the wall: it caused it.
To Influence?



 To Affect?
• What was affected?

• What was influenced?

• Scores go down with sound turned off
 The Atmosphere of Affect

  Insubstantiality of
       affect makes it
 difficult to touch. It
   has no substance,
  but it does have an
influence… a force…
     Affect, Communication and the
                Senses
Regarded as top
of the hierarchy
of the senses




                   Pheromones affect behavior or
                   physiology
          Pheromones and Decisions




                            Firm adds smell to video games
See also Jussi Parikka: Insect Theory of Media: An Archaeology of Animals, Technology and Cultural Theory.
                      To be published by Minnesota University Press - Posthumanities Series
          Usability Studies
• The focusing of
  – Attention
  – Understanding
  – Memory


• Cognitive
  framework to
  understand decision
  making processes
   Focus on Usability Studies

User-Centred-Design
Cognition and Reality
          Emotional Design
• Still focusing on
  decision-making
  processes

• But moving
  increasingly towards
  emotional
  experiences
          Emotional Design

Norman’s distinction
   between   (2004 pp. 11-33)




1. Affect (visceral)
2. Cognition
3. Emotion
             Affect (visceral)
• Subconscious,
  beneath conscious
  awareness

• Affect =
  – Rapid judgments,
    determined by
    environmental
    pressures
  – Safety
  – Danger
               Gut Feeling
• Queasy, uneasy,
  tense, edgy,
  shocked, jolted,
• Jump out your skin
  = affect

  – Muscles tighten
  – Gut feelings
  – Digestive system
    upset
                  Cognition
• Consciousness,
  arrives late, after
  affect

• Info processing
• Interpretation
• Making sense of the
  world

• Decision-making?
                  Emotion
• Conscious
  experience of affect
  – Attribution of cause
    and identification of
    its object
  – Allows decision to be
    made
  – Anger at a particular
    cause = emotion
  What might this distinction
(affect, cognition, emotion) tell
   us about decision-making
           processes?
    Affect is not the Opposite of
              Cognition

• Affect is not
  irrational, but an
  alternative way of
  thinking about the
  world – a different
  kind of intelligence
            Decision Making
• Norman notes how
  cognition and affect can
  influence each other,
  but that the affective
  system is independent
  of conscious thought

• Question:
• So how does affect
  influence decision
  making processes?
     How does affect influence
    decision making processes?

• Tightrope Walk

  – 1ft above the ground
  – 3ft above the ground
 Affective system is independent
      of conscious thought

• The viscera of affect
  changes our decision

• How reflection
  rationalizes that it’s the
  same tightrope –
  requiring no more skill
  or balance, but the
  visceral side (fear of
  heights) takes over…
Conscious rationalization comes
   after affective system has
 released its chemicals of fear
   Influence on decision making
             processes

• Emotions that follow
  affect are judgmental;
  prepare a body’s
  response to unforeseen
  events

• They influence decision
  making processes
           Emotional Design

• Focus of HCI

• Cognitive attention,
  memory and reflection
  play an important part
  in decision making
  processes

• However!
              Noncognitive
• The noncognitive
  realm of affect
  provides a critical
  backdrop that
  assists decision
  making.
What else does affect tell us about
  usability & everyday things

• Usability
  (consumability) and
  aesthetics are related

• Aesthetics – of the
  senses

• From the design of
  ATMs to wine glasses
             Affective Design

• Beauty and function are
  related

• Sensory environments
  and function are related

• Emotion and
  functionality are related
Affective Design
Affect and Ease of Use
             Ease of Use

• Cognitive science
  argues that when
  anxious, scared or
  frightened,
  cognitive
  attention narrows
       Affect and Ease of Use

• When people are
  relaxed, happy or
  aroused, thought
  processes expand,
  becoming more
  creative, imaginative
  and likely to have fun

• Funology
      Affect and Ease of Use

• Therefore Norman’s
  assertion

• Attractive things
  make people feel
  good and that
  heightened
  creativity makes it
  easier to find
  solutions
               MS3305
Need to consider affective design in terms
           of the module debate
  Emotional Design & Brands
• Norman’s Emotional
  Design occurs ‘in the
  world of products…’

• ‘Brands are all about
  emotions’

   – They ‘draw the consumer
     towards the product’

   – Emotional branding is
     about building
     relationships with users…
   (Norman pp. 59-60)
    New Media Producer/Consumer
              Relation
                        Nigel Thrift (2008)



• Producers of
  commodities and
  brands establish
  passionate, affective
  relationship with
  consumers (p. 245).

• The corporate exploitation of
  noncognitive and pre-
  discursive realm of the user
                      Thrift
Corporations are in      Attempts to
  the business of          manipulate the
  making                   emotional mood of
                           consumers
‘hormonal splashes       To affect the
  through increasing       consumer’s senses
  contact with
  consumers'

                                 Consumer
                                  arousal
            The ‘generation of
                passions’


Sensory design of    The added value of
commodities          emotions and affects
           Sensory Design




Scented laptops
 Norman’s Model of
Experience Processing
Please take notes for seminar activity




         Three Levels of Processing
         Norman’s Model of
         Emotional Design

Visceral (affective)
  – Automatic,
    unconscious,
    prewired – supports
    fixed routines
             Norman’s Model of
             Emotional Design

Behavioural
  – Brain process that control
    everyday behaviours
  – Not conscious

  – e.g. Experience of driving a
    familiar route in a car
  – Learned performance
  – Highly skilled (practiced)
    players/workers able to
    focus on higher level of
    play/work
              Norman’s Model of
              Emotional Design

Reflective
  – Contemplative part of the
    brain
  – Highest level of cognition,
    conscious thought
  – Learning of new concepts
    and generalizations of the
    world
          Norman’s claim
     “You cannot escape affect”

1. All three levels interact with each other

2. Bottom up driven by perception and gut
   feelings/reactions

3. Top down driven by thought

4. Everything has a cognitive and affective
   component
    “You cannot escape affect”
•   Cognitive assigns “meaning” –
    culturally learned responses

•   Affective assigns “value” – changes
    how we think
   Four HCI Goals in Affective
          Computing
1. Reducing user frustration
2. Enabling comfortable communication
   of user emotion
3. Developing infrastructure and
   applications to handle affective
   information
4. Building tools that help develop social-
   emotional skills
          See Picard’s AFFECTIVE COMPUTING FOR HCI
• Further viewing
• Don Norman - Emotional Design
       TRYING (week six)
• ‘Create simulations and prototypes to
  help empathize with people and to
  evaluate proposed designs.’
     Modes of users trying out
1.   EMPATHY TOOLS
2.   SCENARIOS
3.   NEXT YEAR’S HEADLINES
4.   INFORMANCE
EMPATHY TOOLS
        EMPATHY TOOLS
• Use tools like clouded glasses and
  weighted gloves to experience processes
  as though you yourself have the abilities
  of different users.

• This is an easy way to prompt an
  empathic understanding for users with
  disabilities or special conditions.
                Uses?
• Example Designers wore gloves to help
  them evaluate the suitability of cords
  and buttons for a home health monitor
  designed for people with reduced
  dexterity and tactile sensation.
         SCENARIOS




http://www.usabilitynet.org/tools/scenarios.htm
             SCENARIOS
• Illustrate a character-rich storyline
  describing the context of use for a
  product or service.

• This process helps to communicate and
  test the essence of a design idea within
  its probable context of use. It is
  especially useful for the evaluation of
  service concepts
               Uses?
• Example Designing a community Web
  site, the team drew up scenarios to
  highlight the ways particular design
  ideas served different user needs.
NEXT YEAR’S HEADLINES
 NEXT YEAR’S HEADLINES
• Invite employees to project their
  company into the future, identifying
  how they want to develop and sustain
  customer relations.

• Based on customer-focused research,
  these predictions can help to define
  which design issues to pursue for
  development.
                 Uses?
• Example While designing an Intranet
  site for information technologists, the
  team prompted the client to define and
  clarify their business targets for
  immediate and future launches.
INFORMANCE
          INFORMANCE
• Act out an “informative performance”
  scenario by role-playing insights or
  behaviours that you have witnessed or
  researched.

• This is a good way to communicate an
  insight and build a shared
  understanding of a concept and its
  implications.
               Uses?
• Example A performance about a story
  of mobile communications shows the
  distress of a frustrated user.
                                                  Task
•        In groups

•        Devise a 3 step usability test that considers
         the user’s mood during one of the following
         user experiences

1.       The most frustrating experience with a
         computer system ever encountered

2.       The most positive learning experience ever
         encountered in school


•        Use pre- and post-session testing as well as a
         usability test.

•        Consider the ideas discussed in Emotional
         Design?

•        Consider three levels of testing…

     –        Visceral
     –        Behavioural
     –        Reflective