Psychological Factors in Design

Understanding Psychological Factors

The Complexity of Human Psychology

1. Human psychology is complex and varied.
2. Designers often struggle to classify people into groups because:
   1. Psychological traits are broad and may not apply to everyone.
   2. Data on touch, taste, and smell are often subjective.

Key Aims for Designers

1. Analyze the human information processing system.
2. Identify potential breakdowns and their effects.

Collecting Psychological Data

Designers use various methods to gather psychological data:

1. Interviews: To understand beliefs and experiences.
2. Surveys: To collect consistent data from multiple participants.
3. Observation: To see how users interact with products in real-time.
4. Standardized Tests: To measure performance or ability.

Nominal Scale

1. Purpose: Categorizing the survey-taker into groups
2. Examples: Which city do you live in? / What is your gender?
3. Characteristic: No numerical value, factual e.g., not an opinion

Ordinal Scale

1. Purpose: Only to show order / ranking only
2. Examples: Satisfaction levels (unhappy to happy).
3. Characteristics: It's to figure out ranking and not intensity or difference e.g. someone who rates themselves a 5 on most satisfied is not necessarily 5 times happier than someone who rated themselves a 1

Example

A survey asking users to rank their satisfaction from 1 (least satisfied) to 5 (most satisfied) uses an ordinal scale

... kind of like if you scrolled to the end of this article and told us how much you like /dislike this with our emoji system :)

Interval Scale

1. Purpose: Shows both the order and the difference but no absolute zero
2. Examples: Celsius temperature on a thermometer
3. Characteristics:
   1. No absolute zero - on a thermometer we only set 0 degrees as "zero" because it's the freezing point of water
   2. The point is that 10 degrees is warmer (as it's a bigger number) than 0 degrees, and that the difference between 10 and 0 is the same interval as the difference between 20 and 10

Ratio Scale

1. Purpose: Comprehensively order, differences and has absolute zero
2. Examples: Weight, speed.
3. Characteristics: Absolute zero, equal intervals and ordered

Why Designers Need These Scales

Understanding scales helps designers:

1. Evaluate data collection methods.
2. Ensure data is meaningful and applicable.
3. Choose the right tools, such as surveys or observations.

Human Information Processing System (HIPS)

1. The human brain is basically a computer with inputs, processing and outputs
2. How humans process then act on information
   1. Input: Receiving information.
   2. Processing: Analyzing the information.
   3. Output: Responding or acting.
3. Think of Jojo as a real human tutor ... (it's actually AI but you get the point)
   1. Input: Whatever you type into the chat box
   2. Processing: Analyzes what your wrote
   3. Output: Explains stuff to you as text, or a flow chart diagram or gives you a quiz / flashcards if helpful

Factors Affecting Information Processing

1. Age: Young users may lack skills; older users may forget them.
2. Strength: Some tasks require physical strength.
3. Skills: Complex tasks need practice.
4. Health: Physical or mental health can impact performance.

Environmental Factors also affect Information Processing

1. Environmental factors like sound, temperature, and lighting also affect user performance
2. Alertness
   1. Temperature: Too hot causes drowsiness; too cold increases alertness.
   2. Sound: Loud noises distract; repetitive sounds irritate.
   3. Lighting: Poor lighting strains eyes.
   4. Air Quality: Dusty air hinders breathing.
   5. Smell: Unpleasant odors distract.
3. Perception
   1. People perceive environmental factors differently. While temperature can be measured, comfort levels vary.