Chapter 3: Three Levels of Design: Visceral, Behavioral, and Reflective
Summary
This chapter is an extension of what is briefly discussed in chapter 2, the three levels of design. Visceral is the level that contains the emotions that are caused by the design. In the beginning of the chapter it is pointed out that the industry of watter bottle design has become a million dollar industry, and it focuses on the visceral level. The behavioral level contains the actual functionality of the product. The reflective level is the meaning a certain product can have a culture or a person.
Discussion
Even though this chapter was very similar to the last chapter, I really enjoy reading Norman's books since they are easy readings. I also like them because he gives concise examples such as the water bottle design becoming a million dollar industry by focusing on providing emotions with its design.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Book Reading #31 - Coming of Age in Samoa
Chapter 10: The Experience and Individuality of the Average Girl
Summary
This chapter talks about the characteristics or the personality of the average Samoan girl. Mead mentions how topics that one would consider mature such as death are present in the girl's lives. It seems that the girls have to mature very early on.
Discussion
I find it interesting how the parents did not seem to want to protect their children about mature matters, that perhaps in our society a young girl could not handle. Although it sounds a little cruel, it seems to make the Samoan girls mature at an earlier age. But again, I say at an earlier age because I am comparing this to our culture.
Summary
This chapter talks about the characteristics or the personality of the average Samoan girl. Mead mentions how topics that one would consider mature such as death are present in the girl's lives. It seems that the girls have to mature very early on.
Discussion
I find it interesting how the parents did not seem to want to protect their children about mature matters, that perhaps in our society a young girl could not handle. Although it sounds a little cruel, it seems to make the Samoan girls mature at an earlier age. But again, I say at an earlier age because I am comparing this to our culture.
Book Reading #32 - Opening Skinner's Box
Chapter 9: Memory Inc.
Summary
This chapter talks about the scientists who challenged Elizabeth Loftu's claims that there are no neural mechanisms for repression. Dr. Scoville pulled out the hippocampus of Henry, a patient that suffered from severe epilepsy. His findings were that after surgery, Henry could not retain memory of meeting people. Henry could not remember the nurse who had introduces herself just five minutes ago, the only person he remembered was his mom. The curious thing is that he knew how to walk, and brush his teeth and those activities require memory. Later on in the chapter, it is explained that Eric Kandel was able to determine that with the blocking of the molecule CREB he disrupted long-term memory formation.
Discussion
It is very interesting to see these scientists trying to challenge other scientist's findings, and actually being able to claim better findings. It can be extremely useful to identify certain parts of the brain with certain types of behavior or what those parts are responsible for.
Summary
This chapter talks about the scientists who challenged Elizabeth Loftu's claims that there are no neural mechanisms for repression. Dr. Scoville pulled out the hippocampus of Henry, a patient that suffered from severe epilepsy. His findings were that after surgery, Henry could not retain memory of meeting people. Henry could not remember the nurse who had introduces herself just five minutes ago, the only person he remembered was his mom. The curious thing is that he knew how to walk, and brush his teeth and those activities require memory. Later on in the chapter, it is explained that Eric Kandel was able to determine that with the blocking of the molecule CREB he disrupted long-term memory formation.
Discussion
It is very interesting to see these scientists trying to challenge other scientist's findings, and actually being able to claim better findings. It can be extremely useful to identify certain parts of the brain with certain types of behavior or what those parts are responsible for.
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Ethnography Results, Week 4
This week we decided to all go as a group and observe the CS movie-theater. We went on a Friday at about 1:45p.m. and this time we actually went to watch a movie at 2:20p.m. We watched the comedy Hall Pass. The observations for this week changed from the past week since we decided to go on an early Friday. We sat down at one of the tables in the theater lobby and observed people walking in for approximately 30 minutes before our movie started. The majority of the people that walked in were in pairs. We observed older couples, young couples, male and females in groups of two or three. We also saw a older woman with her granddaughters we would like to assume. There was a big group of about 12 people, and it was interesting because they were all minorities. From what we concluded this group had hispanics, asians, and africans. Most of the people walked right into the theater without purchasing anything. In the case of the people that did stop to buy food, we noticed that almost everyone bought popcorn and soft drinks. It is very interesting because there are two places where you can get your food from, there is a small coffee shop and the regular concession stand. We did not notice anyone go to the coffee shop to buy anything, and observing the menu they sell pizzas, pretzels, ice cream, coffe, and other drinks. A funny fact was that almost all of the people that we observed went to watch the same movie we did.
Book Reading #28 - Coming of Age in Samoa
Chapter 9: The Attitude of the Personality
Summary
This chapter talks about the Samoan's personality. Mead describes the musu attitude. There aren't many differences in the personality of Samoan generations. Samoans are expected to act the same as if they had a recipe. It is clear the hierarchy of the Samoans is very different than our culture.
Discussion
It seems like every chapter is kind of repetitive in some sense. Even though there are some similarities between the "old-school" Mexican families and the Samoans, I am thankful I do not belong to the Samoans. It seems like a monotonous culture and there is no room for freedom of choices or ways of life.
Summary
This chapter talks about the Samoan's personality. Mead describes the musu attitude. There aren't many differences in the personality of Samoan generations. Samoans are expected to act the same as if they had a recipe. It is clear the hierarchy of the Samoans is very different than our culture.
Discussion
It seems like every chapter is kind of repetitive in some sense. Even though there are some similarities between the "old-school" Mexican families and the Samoans, I am thankful I do not belong to the Samoans. It seems like a monotonous culture and there is no room for freedom of choices or ways of life.
Book Reading #27 - Emotional Design
Chapter 2: The Multiple Faces of Emotion and Design
Summary
This chapter talks about the levels of an emotional design which are the visceral, the behavioral, and the reflective. The visceral level is the first look of a product. The behavioral is the experience with the product. Finally, the reflective is the causal of emotions and memories with the product. Norman goes on to talk about how the designer has to take into consideration his product audience. He claims that it is impossible for a single product to satisfy all of the market.
Discussion
I enjoyed reading this chapter because not only does it related to the levels of emotional design but it also gives you an insight into marketing. I like his example about how corporations tend not to choose computers that look "pretty" because their intention is to serve as a means of personal entertainment and not business related activities. All of his considerations can be taken into account when designing any product. I think I am starting to like this book more than Design of Everyday Things.
Summary
This chapter talks about the levels of an emotional design which are the visceral, the behavioral, and the reflective. The visceral level is the first look of a product. The behavioral is the experience with the product. Finally, the reflective is the causal of emotions and memories with the product. Norman goes on to talk about how the designer has to take into consideration his product audience. He claims that it is impossible for a single product to satisfy all of the market.
Discussion
I enjoyed reading this chapter because not only does it related to the levels of emotional design but it also gives you an insight into marketing. I like his example about how corporations tend not to choose computers that look "pretty" because their intention is to serve as a means of personal entertainment and not business related activities. All of his considerations can be taken into account when designing any product. I think I am starting to like this book more than Design of Everyday Things.
Book Reading #29 - Opening Skinner's Box
Chapter 8: Lost in the Mall
Summary
This chapter talks about a psychologist named Elizabeth Loftus and her work related to memories. Specifically, Loftus claims that the mind distorts memories and can create real memories. Loftus believes the mind mixes fiction and facts. Slater describes a time when Loftus was trying to defend George Franklin who was being accused of raping and killing his daughter's best friend. Loftus tried to explain to the judge that Franklin's daughter accusation could not be counted as reliable since she was accusing him more than a decade after the supposedly "rape" occurred. Loftus lost her case and Franklin was sentenced. This trial was what sparked Loftus's experiments to try to prove her point.
Discussion
I thought the accusation of Franklin was absurd, and I did not think that you could bring up a "rape" more than 10 years after it happened. It is very interesting to know about Loftus's Lost in the Mall experience, because the majority of us do that at some point. We briefly remember a time in our lifes when we had a certain experience, we try to remember as much as possible and then we start adding details to our stories that we think happened but in reality we are exaggerating quite a bit.
Summary
This chapter talks about a psychologist named Elizabeth Loftus and her work related to memories. Specifically, Loftus claims that the mind distorts memories and can create real memories. Loftus believes the mind mixes fiction and facts. Slater describes a time when Loftus was trying to defend George Franklin who was being accused of raping and killing his daughter's best friend. Loftus tried to explain to the judge that Franklin's daughter accusation could not be counted as reliable since she was accusing him more than a decade after the supposedly "rape" occurred. Loftus lost her case and Franklin was sentenced. This trial was what sparked Loftus's experiments to try to prove her point.
Discussion
I thought the accusation of Franklin was absurd, and I did not think that you could bring up a "rape" more than 10 years after it happened. It is very interesting to know about Loftus's Lost in the Mall experience, because the majority of us do that at some point. We briefly remember a time in our lifes when we had a certain experience, we try to remember as much as possible and then we start adding details to our stories that we think happened but in reality we are exaggerating quite a bit.
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