How People Feel is a chapter that really dives into emotions and emotional response. When designing, it is important to remember that certain design elements can change how a viewer feels.
There are seven basic universal emotions: joy, sadness, contempt, fear, disgust, surprise, and anger. Emotions are expressed physically as a result from a specific event and typically lead to action. Moods are longer lasting than emotions, usually a day or two, and they may not be triggered by a specific event. Attitudes are a cognitive conscious brain component. It's important to remember that people identify the seven basic emotions in photos and it's best to not only pick the most emphasized version of an emotion but to use real-looking emotions, not fake.
New research is showing that muscle movement and emotions are tied together. Botox (a product that essentially freezes muscles from movement) and the emotional ties to muscles has been tested and found that if you cannot physically feel emotion (for example mouth muscles pulling upward for a smile) that you are less likely to not feel the emotion at all. In design it is important to watch for unintended facial expressions as a reaction to your design choices, for example type that is too small may lead to squinting which creates a frown-like face and can create negative feelings.
People are programmed to enjoy surprises. People typically find enjoyment in new and novel things that capture their attention. People are also happier when they are busier. Idle time is usually incredibly frustrating and makes people equate the amount of waiting time with worth for finished object. It's important to keep interest during times of waiting (think loading animation). People also find more difficult things to be more enjoyable, for example, when joining an online community if there are more steps to become a part of it, people tend to enjoy it more. Think of Facebook, and how you create an entire profile.
Listening to music releases dopamine and it makes people happy. Of course, music taste is not universal, so it's good to allow people to individualize their music for a website, product, design, or activity. Your favorite music induces euphoria. Smells are also important to consider, though not digitally (yet!) Smell is the most powerfully linked sensation to memory. Companies actually use smell for branding purposes. Did you know that in Disneyland scents of vanilla and peppermint are released through the vent systems in Main Street?
Speaking of branding, look and feel is an indicator of trust. People are quick to make a decision about what is and what isn't trustworthy so it's important to keep in mind design factors that can help make it through the first trust rejection phase. Design elements such as color and font should be consistent throughout the branding. People tend to want what is familiar when they are sad/scared. Think of comfort food for the brain.
Finally, this chapter explains how people usually overestimate reactions to future events. They also typically feel more positive before and after and event than during it. It's smart to take their opinion of something a few days after use to get a higher satisfaction rate.
DEFINITIONS
Amygdala versus Thalamus- The Amygdala is a part of the limbic system that is involved with processing memory and emotional response. The Thalamus regulates consciousness, alertness, and sleep while also aids in relaying sensory and motor signals to the cerebral cortex.
"Welcoming Warmth"- A blend of scents used by the Sheraton to make people feel welcome. The blend contains fig, freesia, and jasmine.
Nucleas Accubens- A part of the brain that is active when a person experiences pleasurable events. Also plays a role in pleasure, indicating laughter, reward, fear, aggression, impulsitivity, addiction and the placebo affect.
Attention Restoration- After voluntary attention and focus is spent, a person can experience a number of things that can restore their attention bank. Mark Berman found that people who had taken a break and walked through the city's arboretum after being depleted of their voluntary attention scored higher on an attention based test than those who had walked through the city. Other studies have shown that people who could see nature scenes from the hospital needed less pain medication and had shorter stays than those who could see brick out their window.
CHAPTER ANALYSIS
I truly found this chapter to be the most interesting so far. As incredibly emotional creatures, it is so important to design with the parameters in mind that people can be affected emotionally by any and all design choices, such as typeface, type size, color, layout, etc. There are many design choices that are not obvious but control feelings in users.
I think that my biggest take away in this chapter was learning about how people are happier when they are busier. I applied this thought to my own life. I realized that once I had finished my grocery shopping I was increasingly frustrated in the amount of time I had to wait in line. If I had been interested in the gum or candy or magazines by the register, I may have been distracted enough to not get upset. In design I can think of a handful of times where waiting is just painful. The idea of using loading animations and interactive advertisements are really valuable assets to keeping people happy while they wait.
The book stated that people not only overestimate their reactions to future events but also feel more positive before and after an event than they do while it's taking place. These were really interesting points to me. People are not good at predicting their feelings therefore it's good to take opinions about future changes with a grain of salt. Have you ever said that you would not use a site or app if it overhauled the way it worked, only to find that it made life incredibly easier? Reactions after the fact will ultimately not be as strong as the user imagined it would be.
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