Tag: tangible interaction

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Bloom: Scaffolding multiple positive emotion regulation techniques to enhance casual conversations and promote the subjective well-being of emerging adults

Publication

  • Kozin, K., Mapara, S., Bao, J., Chao, H, & Yoon, J. (2024) Bloom: Scaffolding multiple positive emotion regulation techniques to enhance casual conversations and promote the subjective well-being of emerging adults (manuscript in preparation).

Bloom is an interactive artifact created to address the lack of meaningful in-person social interactions among emerging adults. Drawing upon emotion regulation theories, the development of Bloom explores whether incorporating multiple Positive Emotion Regulation (PER) techniques into a single artifact can effectively enhance users’ subjective well-being in their routines. The paper discusses the design methodology employed to develop a prototype that supports five PER techniques, along with the design components, and preliminary user testing of the prototype. The chosen PER techniques are: (1) Being immersed and absorbed, (2) Engaging in a collective, (3) Creating a savoring atmosphere, (4) Sharing the positive experience with others, and (5) Infusing ordinary events with positive meaning. The paper discusses the benefits of enabling users to utilize diverse PER techniques to enhance their well-being, and future research directions for assessing the efficacy of Bloom and refining its design.

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LEV: A behavioral intervention technology that supports young adults’ emotion management

Publication

  • Yoon, J., Vira, A., Jung, D. & Kim, C. (2023) LEV: A behavioral intervention technology that supports young adults’ emotion management. (manuscript in preparation).

LEV is a behavioral intervention technology designed to support young adults’ well-being by helping them better manage their emotions (both positive and negative). LEV builds on an emotion-regulating strategy called reappraisal, which refers to changing how one thinks either about the situation itself or about one’s capacity to manage it. For example, people can uplift their positive emotions by increasing the perceived value of the situation (e.g., believing one’s items are irreplaceable), cherishing the little resource left (e.g., listing time left in college), and adopting a grateful outlook (e.g., counting blessings every day). LEV is a small robotic creature that inhabits a user’s home and is a part of their daily routine. LEV guides users through a storytelling activity in which they reflect on and explore events in their daily lives. During the interaction, users recall a recent emotional event and then engage in reappraisal to retell the event from a particular emotional perspective. LEV supports this activity by initiating user interactions, choosing an emotional perspective based on current and historical user input, and providing feedback in gesture-based communication. By providing day-to-day opportunities to consider events from different angles, LEV aims to help users reflect on their daily lives constructively and critically. With time and repetition of the interaction, users can improve their reappraisal ability and become more emotionally adaptive in a variety of positive and negative situations.

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Does practicing a diversity of savoring techniques help enhance happiness?

Click the image to enlarge.
Interaction scenarios for Revealing Moments in which two individuals self-select different positive activities in response to the same ambiguous prompt (i.e., “Bring light”).

Publication

  • Faulk, J., & Yoon, J. (2023). Does practicing a diversity of savoring techniques help enhance happiness? A randomized-controlled trial of design-mediated well-being, Journal of Design Research. (In press – Downloadable upon request)
  • Faulk, J.D., Oluwadairo, O., & Yoon, J. (2022). Secret dance and bring light: Enhancing user autonomy through directional ambiguity in designing positive emotion regulation interventions. Design Research Society (DRS), Bilbao, ES. Download

When we look forward to enjoyable events or share positive experiences with others we can prolong and amplify our positive emotions. These and other savoring techniques can increase our subjective well-being. Yet, it remains unknown whether practicing a variety of savoring techniques adds its own happiness-enhancing effect. In this 1X3 randomized-controlled trial, 71 participants used a novel, interactive poster to facilitate high vs. low savoring diversity over eight days, or they journaled in the control condition. Unlike other positive psychology interventions, the poster was designed to inspire users to self-select their own happiness-enhancing activities. Regression analyses showed that while cognitive well-being increased in the high diversity condition, emotional well-being did not. These results suggested that assigning savoring diversity may have modestly contributed to users’ cognitive well-being. Written responses further pointed to the poster’s potential effectiveness in promoting positive experiences. Implications for design practice and directions for future research are discussed.

A diagram that depicts how practicing diverse savoring techniques may increase participants’ well-being.

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Variapsody: Creating three interactive music listening experiences that use diversified positive emotion regulation strategies to promote subjective well-being

Publication

  • Ghanem, M. & Yoon, J. (2022). Variapsody: Creating three interactive music listening experiences that use diversified positive emotion regulation strategies to promote subjective well-being.  CHI’22 Late-Breaking Work on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI LBW 2022). ACM. New Orleans, LA, USA. Download

Over the past decade, initiatives to design for subjective well-being have gained increased attention and momentum in design research. These initiatives often draw from positive psychology to explore ways of making Positive Psychology Interventions (PPIs) more effective through technology. This paper explores how a mix of tangible and digital technology can realize activity-focused, diverse emotion regulation for its users. We propose that emotion regulation strategies can serve as a principle for designing technology that encourages users to savor, modify, reassess, or commemorate their experiences. By centering the design around music listening experiences, the paper demonstrates how users can be supported to overcome motivation hurdles that get in the way of frequent engagement with a PPI. Variapsody is a device that enriches music listening with three features, each deploying a different set of emotion regulation strategies that make the experience more enjoyable and meaningful. Variapsody’s regulatory diversity offers users the choice of how to approach music listening and expands their repertoire of ER strategies. The first feature, Reaction Tile, inscribes users’ reactions to music onto a tangible, domino-sized tile to encourage them to savor the music. The second is Monofilter, which purposefully muffles the salience of background music while working on a cognitively demanding task. Vibelist is the third feature that helps users capture and revisit the context of music listening experiences in a digital collage. The paper discusses the lessons learned and future research opportunities.

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Design for interest: Exploratory study on a distinct positive emotion in human-product interaction

Research conducted at ID-StudioLab
Publication:

  • Yoon, J., Desmet, P. M. A., & van der Helm, A. (2012). Design for interest: Exploratory study on a distinct positive emotion in human-product interaction. International Journal of Design, 6(2), 67-80.
  • Yoon, J. (2010). Interest in human-product interactions. Delft: Delft University of Technology

Can we design interactions that evoke a distinct positive emotion? This project explored the possibilities to design interactions that elicit user interest. On the basis of appraisal theory, it was predicted that interest is evoked by a combined appraisal of novelty-complexity (a product must be appraised as novel and/or complex) and coping potential (one appraises oneself to have sufficient skills and resources to deal with an event). Three music players were developed to test this hypothesis. These were identical in terms of appearance, but different in terms of interaction qualities. The music player consists of a wooden container, a bar, a speaker, LEDs, and two electromagnets. The electronic components are housed inside the wooden container. The bar is for switching on/off, changing songs and controlling volume range. The setting of electromagnets and LEDs was programmed for manipulation of interaction qualities and behaviors of the music players. This project was featured in Dutch Ergonomics Society News.

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“Sorry… What?”, Redesigning the Alcatel-Lucent compact conference module 

Research conducted in collaboration with Alcatel-Lucent (Paris, France)

Conference calling is gaining popularity, especially video-based devices. Still audio-only conference call devices are often preferred for their privacy properties and low price compared to video. It has been shown that in audio-only devices, the insufficient non-verbal communication and context unawareness result in communication problems, which affects negotiations and user experience. This project focused on improving the usability of the Alcatel-Lucent 4125 Compact Conferencing Module concerning its function, aesthetics, and communication quality. Usability test of the model revealed that while using the conference module, inadequate product feedback resulted in communication issues related to focusing, understanding and being aware of all the members participating in the call. The product demanded an undesirable amount of attention during the conversation, which led to a clumsy and unclear user experience for the people involved. In the redesign, the enriched communication feedback was created by visualizing voice inputs and making the interactions more physically dynamic.