Written by Sarah & Yeasmin (Lecture 1)
Psychology is nice. It can help us
understand people, technology, even ourselves better.
It can also make us better
engineers. Understanding the needs and expectations of a user is not just
helpful because it will make the device easier to use, it will most likely also
make more people buy whatever it is you’re selling. Finding the typical usage
patterns means the device’s design can be optimized so to support its usage.
Nobody wants to use a phone where you have to press a thousand buttons and
search through a dozen menus just to call someone.
Have you ever changed operating
systems and decided to switch back after stumbling around and not finding
anything for a week? Changed from an Apple phone to an Android one? Had your
grandma use a smartphone for the first time? If so, you may have come to
appreciate intuitive design and well-thought-out interfaces. They tend to make
using an unfamiliar device or interface more time-efficient and pleasant. At
the heart of it, phones are always just phones and laptops are always just
laptops, so they should be similar enough to use. You’d think.
Using technology gives users
expectations - according to whichever device they used before and are switching
to, those expectations may or may not be met. Considering those expectations
and their implications will improve usability and keep it intuitive.
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Technology affects how people interact with each other.
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Technological advancements can have
ethical aspects, as well as side-effects - psychological knowledge can help
anticipate them. Have you heard enough of technology making people antisocial?
Being aware of psychological aspects can help in making technology more
interactive and bring people together. Make a game that forces people to go
outside. There, no more complaints about children sitting inside with their
phones. Now they sit outside. Success!
Knowing about psychology can help
you in your personal life as well. It may make you more aware of the things you
do and how they affect your surroundings. When people with different views are
brought together, psychology can help navigate conversations in everyday life.
For more information on the topic,
you can find links to further reading on this site: https://numerons.wordpress.com/paper-ii/application-of-psychology-in-information-technology-and-mass-media/
Are there any other ways you think
psychological knowledge can help in day-to-day life? Are we talking nonsense
and you disagree with everything we’ve written? Let us know what you think!
Sarah & Yeasmin
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your post - it was a really nice way to open this blog post series. I like the way how you made connections between psychology and the use of technology. Especially I like the example of making people go outside and become more interactive with the use of technology (instead of just sitting indoors). I think that technology has good opportunities for activating people if we just design it well!
ReplyDeleteI really like the way they demonstrated what happens when you link a known icon to something not related. This was a good example of Recognition over recall theory by Jakob Nielson. I would like to know if the authors faced this kind of design in their life? How did you feel about it? I also agree with the point that I will not use a phone where I need to navigate through thousands of options just to make a phone call. The primary purpose of a phone is to make a call. Even if you make the best phone on earth with innovative features, it just might not work if it fails to serve the primary purpose. That is how human psychology works!
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with your point of view.
ReplyDeleteEvery single new invention lead to a lot of good and bad points.
It is true that technology makes people associable. However, this same technology makes it possible to create relationships that would be impossible in reality, for example to communicate from abroad. Thus, in a sense, it helps people to be more sociable.
The most important thing is not to abuse of technologies and not to disconnect with the real world. Psychological knowledge allows us to question our daily use of these new technologies but also to keep our feet on the ground while enjoying its benefits.
Mathieu HENRY
I find your post very good. I feel that the psychological aspects are not taken into big enough consideration yet. A lot of products (software, devices etc.) are designed to solve a problem and they do not take into consideration the feelings of the user and how using it will affect each user etc. You connected psychological aspects to technology really well. Good job!
ReplyDeleteMatias Mane