Do you care if a computer says sorry?
S. Joon Park, Craig M. MacDonald, Michael John Khoo · 2012
While traditional HCI research emphasizes usability based on models of cognition, user experience (UX) focuses on affect and emotion through the provision of positive interactive experiences. Providing affective cues, such as apologetic on-screen display messages, appears to be a way to influence users' affective states as well as their perceptions toward an information retrieval system. A study was designed to determine whether users' affect and perceptions differ between three types of systems: neutral, apologetic, and non-apologetic. Our results revealed that the users perceived the apologetic system as more aesthetically appealing and usable than the neutral or non-apologetic system. The result also showed that users' frustration was the lowest when using the apologetic system. We discuss the implications of these results in designing a more experience-centered system.