Unpacking the Contents - A Conceptual Model for Understanding User Experience in User Psychology
Rebekah Ann Rousi, Pertti O. Saariluoma, Jaana Leikas · 2011
Paradigm shifts can be noted to have taken place in several areas of user-technology research. The most obvious have been in terms of including users within the design process, either in terms of usability studies or user experience design. There have also been shifts towards viewing human-technology interaction as not only an optical experience, but also an embodied one. When exploring these factors it is easy to prioritize the physical over the psychological. User interactions with systems are more easily measured in terms of concrete outcomes rather than by subjective feelings and perceptions of interaction. Through the conference theme: user modeling and user focus, this study's purpose has been to uncover mental contents present during the moments of human-system interaction. The study has employed a range of design stimuli for users to encounter and evaluate, giving a holistic idea of the psychological components involved in the interactions. The article describes a conceptual model which has derived from a study of mobile phone icons in the context of their graphical user interfaces. This study shows that users draw on multiple dimensions of mental information contents when experiencing technology, these include: cognitive, practical, aesthetic and emotional. Although the dimensions somewhat overlap, shifts can be seen between the dominance of the dimensions when the experience is positive or negative.