1.

1b - Psychological Factors

•Designers must take into consideration the

psychological effects their product might
induce upon the consumer. How affective a
product is can be determined by an
individuals reaction to it given certain
external sensory stimuli.
Would you eat this?
What are some psychological effects of these
products?
What are some psychological effects of these
products?
What are some psychological effects of these
products?
 Topic 1: Human Factors and Ergonomics
1.2 – Psychological Factors
Learning Objectives:
All – Describe psychological factor data.
Most – Distinguish between different measurement scales.
Some – Analyse the human information processing system and identify
reasons for it to breakdown.

Starter Video
Psychology for Designers – Thinking Fast and Thinking Slow
https://www.mindtheproduct.com/2017/02/psychology-for-designers-thinking-fast-and-thinking-slow/

Human beings vary psychologically in complex ways. Any attempt by designers to classify people into groups merely
results in a statement of broad principles that may or may not be relevant to the individual. Design permeates every
aspect of human experience and data pertaining to what cannot be seen such as touch, taste, and smell are often
expressions of opinion rather than checkable fact.

The analysis of the human information processing system requires a designer to critically analyse a range of causes and
effects to identify where a potential breakdown could occur and the effect it may have.
Psychological factor data
Psychological factors include, smell, light, sound, taste, texture and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
temperature. These are a significant part of ergonomics and human rL38g06DbSc
efficiency and safety can be affected by these factors.
Scales of Measurement: Nominal, Ordinal,
Methods of collecting psychological factor data Interval and Ratio scales explained
• Data Collection through 4 types of measurement scales.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
arL2qcnQ8y0
Nominal: This scale only classifies objects into discrete categories, for
example, food groups. Nominal means ”by name” and labels are used for Levels of Measurement
the categories of objects. Nominal scales are very weak, as they do not
tell you anything more than that one object is different from another.
http://www.mymarketresearchmethods.com/
types-of-data-nominal-ordinal-interval-ratio/

Nominal Scale
Ordinal: As with nominal scales, the labels used in ordinal scales
can be words, symbols, letters or numerals. When numerals are
used, they only indicate sequence or order, for example, ranking
someone by placing them in a competition as “third” rather than
by a score—they may have come third with 50% right or with
75%.
Interval: An interval scale is a more powerful
scale, as the intervals or difference between the
points or units are of an equal size, for example,
in a temperature scale. Measurements using an
interval scale can be subjected to numerical or
quantitative analysis.

Interval Scale

Ordinal Scale
Ratio: The difference between a ratio
scale and an interval scale is that the
zero point on an interval scale is some
arbitrarily agreed value, whereas on a
ratio scale it is a true zero. For
example, 0°C has been defined
arbitrarily as the freezing temperature of
water, whereas 0 grams is a true zero, Ratio Scale
that is, no mass.
What methods are there for collecting
Psychological data?

OBSERVATION SURVEYS AND STANDARDIZED CASE STUDIES

INTERVIEWS TESTING
 Qualitative versus Quantitative Data

•Data in relation to light, smell, sound, taste, temperature and texture as qualitative or
quantitative (ordinal/interval)

• Ordinal (Qualitative) – taste, smell and texture,

• Interval (Quantitative) – sound, temperature and light

•Quantitative data may be used in a design context relating to psychological factors, but
individuals vary in their reaction to the data. For example, one person will find a room
temperature comfortable while another person will find it uncomfortable, though the
temperature is constant.
Human Information Processing Systems
The Human information processing system can be represented using a flow chart. Below is a
flow diagram; the arrows represent the flow of information through the system. The boxes
represent functional elements in the processing chain, where information is processed.

Below is scenario 1 where we can apply the human information processing system
to a common task.
Human Information Processing Systems
 Task 1 - You are driving a car and you see a red
traffic light up ahead. Develop a flow chart
that represents the human information
processing system that would occur.

Activity
Task 2 - You have received a WhatsApp
message from your friend which reads 'Where
are you?'. Develop a flow chart that
represents the human information processing
system that would occur to dial their number.
Task 1 - You are driving a car and you see a red
traffic light up ahead. Develop a flow chart
that represents the human information
processing system that would occur.
 Task 2 - You have received a WhatsApp
message from your friend which reads 'Where
are you?'. Develop a flow chart that
represents the human information processing
system that would occur to dial their number.

Activity
Breakdown in the human information
processing system

2:31 - 6:45
A breakdown in the human information processing system
Effects and Reasons

What happened if the information processing system? In the car activity above you would have (hopefully) concluded
that the output would the foot pressing the brake so the car will stop.

If there is a break down in the human information processing system then a car crash is a likely event. Here the few
things could have occurred such as, slow reaction time, stimulus/input as not seen, response/output was not
done/slipped/ foot got caught, etc.

At the central processing stage, the incoming information may be incorrect or no suitable responses to it are available.
The motor output stage may be unable to perform the actions specified by the central processing unit.

Some reasons are:

• age – too young and maybe have not Why dothe
learnt you think
skills (longaterm memory), too old maybe forget what to
do, or too weak to carry out the task.
person might be
• strength – too weak to carry out the task
unable
• skills – do not have the necessary skills to perform
yet, may have forgotten he skills, skills needed are too complex
• health -when mental or physical health the action?
is comprised which may lead to not carrying out the necessary
tasks.
Effect of environmental factors
Environmental factors include, sound, temperature, lighting, air quality (pollutants) and smell. The user responds to different
environmental factors, for example, how warm or cold work environments can affect the performance of an individual.

Thermal comfort describes a person’s psychological state of mind and involves a range of environmental factors: air
temperature, the heat radiating from the Sun, fires and other heat sources, air velocity (still air makes people feel stuffy,
moving air increases heat loss), humidity, and personal factors (clothing and metabolic rate).
Hopefully in an office environment where a number of people work together, the thermal environment satisfies the majority
of the people.
Thermal comfort is not measured by air temperature, but by the number of people complaining of thermal discomfort.
Thermal comfort affects morale and productivity.
Alertness
- Alertness is the key term and
means being aware of what is
happening in the vicinity, in
order to understand how
information, events, and one's
own actions will impact goals
and objectives, both
immediately and in the near
future.
Alertness
How do you think environmental factors affect alertness?

STARTER – AWARENESS TEST

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ahg6qcgoay4

Environmental factors induce different levels of alertness.

• Temperature: too warm and you get sleepy and less alert – too cold and you become more alert. Next time you are on a
long haul flight note the temperature fluctuations while flying.
• Sound: too loud which can be distracting or even cause harm, high pitched or repetitive on/off noises also become
distracting.
• Lighting: too dim hard to see things need to get close or strains the eyes, natural versus fluorescent (can affect peoples
eyes)
• Air quality: excess dust or other pollutants could cause people to find it hard to breathe, maybe cough, etc. Certain
essential or aroma oils are said to improve alertness
• Smell: bad smells will draw ones attention away as would the smell of a hot apple pie.
Human error has been seen
as a key factor associated The Bhopal disaster, also referred to as the
with almost every major Bhopal gas tragedy, was a gas leak incident
accident, with catastrophic in India, considered the world's worst
industrial disaster.
consequences to people,
It occurred on the night of 2–3 December
property and the 1984 at the Union Carbide India Limited
environment. (UCIL) pesticide plant in Bhopal, Madhya
Pradesh. Over 500,000 people were exposed
to methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas and other
chemicals. The toxic substance made its way
in and around the shanty towns located near
the plant.
The Chernobyl disaster was the
worst nuclear power plant accident
in history in terms of cost and
casualties, and is one of only two
classified as a level 7 event (the
maximum classification) on the
International Nuclear Event Scale
(the other being the Fukushima
Daiichi nuclear disaster in 2011).
The Kegworth air disaster occurred
on 8 January 1989 when British
Midland Flight 92, a Boeing 737-400,
crashed onto the embankment of the
M1 motorway near Kegworth,
Leicestershire, UK. The aircraft was
attempting to conduct an emergency
landing at East Midlands Airport. Of
the 126 people aboard, 47 died and
74, including seven members of the
flight crew, sustained serious injuries.

Accidents with major human contributions are not limited to any particular
parts of the world, or any particular industry, and include the Bhopal chemical
release (1984), the Chernobyl melt-down and radioactivity release (1986), the
Piper Alpha platform explosion (1988) and the Kegworth air disaster (1989).
Perception
Environmental factors can affect different individuals in different ways. Individuals react differently to sensory stimuli.
Efficiency and comfort are affected by such factors. It becomes important to optimize environmental factors to maximize
workplace performance. This can be challenging as user responses to environmental factors are different, some people will
find 22 c perfect while for other it may to be cold!

The human mind cannot effectively deal with chaos. The mind is programmed and designed to create bw
order when confronted with many objects. The consequence of this is that human beings when using a
product or service generally do not really see objects; they see classes, groups or patterns of controls and
feedback.

How is perception manipulated

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFdCzN7RYbw
Sample Questions

01 02 03
A) State the percentile B) Explain why people C) Outline the influence
value used to decide working in the same of perception when
the height of a wash interior environment collecting data for
basin (1 mark) often differ in what research. [3 marks]
they regard as thermally
comfortable. (3 marks)
 Marking Scheme

C) some data is not quantifiable and based on perception, i.e. thermal comfort
Perception can be altered by environmental factors.