JYVÄSKYLÄ STUDIES IN COMPUTING 213 Jussi P. P. Jokinen User Psychology of Emotional User Experience JYVÄSKYLÄ STUDIES IN COMPUTING 213 Jussi P. P. Jokinen User Psychology of Emotional User Experience Esitetään Jyväskylän yliopiston informaatioteknologian tiedekunnan suostumuksella julkisesti tarkastettavaksi yliopiston Agora-rakennuksen auditoriossa 2 kesäkuun 6. päivänä 2015 kello 12. Academic dissertation to be publicly discussed, by permission of the Faculty of Information Technology of the University of Jyväskylä, in building Agora, auditorium 2, on June 6, 2015 at 12 o’clock noon. UNIVERSITY OF JYVÄSKYLÄ JYVÄSKYLÄ 2015 User Psychology of Emotional User Experience JYVÄSKYLÄ STUDIES IN COMPUTING 213 Jussi P. P. Jokinen User Psychology of Emotional User Experience UNIVERSITY OF JYVÄSKYLÄ JYVÄSKYLÄ 2015 Editors Marja-Leena Rantalainen Department of Mathematical Information Technology, University of Jyväskylä Pekka Olsbo, Ville Korkiakangas Publishing Unit, University Library of Jyväskylä Cover picture: CC-BY-SA by Jussi Jokinen from following images: Coghead: CC-0 Cellphone icon: CC-BY-SA WZ Computer icon: CC-BY-SA Carlosdevivo URN:ISBN:978-951-39-6225-8 ISBN 978-951-39-6225-8 (PDF) ISBN 978-951-39-6224-1 (nid.) ISSN 1456-5390 Copyright © 2015, by University of Jyväskylä Jyväskylä University Printing House, Jyväskylä 2015 “For all men begin, as we said, by wondering that things are as they are, as they do about self-moving marionettes, or about the solstices or the incommensura- bility of the diagonal of a square with the side; for it seems wonderful to all who have not yet seen the reason, that there is a thing which cannot be meas- ured even by the smallest unit.” (Aristotle, Metaphysics, 983a15) ABSTRACT Jokinen, Jussi P. P. User psychology of emotional user experience Jyväskylä: University of Jyväskylä, 2015, 89 p. (+ included articles) (Jyväskylä Studies in Computing ISSN 1456-5390; 213) ISBN 978-951-39-6224-1 (nid.) ISBN 978-951-39-6225-8 (PDF) Researchers of human-technology interaction have started to emphasise the importance of technology users’ experiences: experience is an important aspect of daily life, and thus it should be taken into account in human-technology interaction research and in design of new technologies. However, scientific study of conscious experience is difficult, and the field of user experience research is afflicted by incompatible definitions, assumptions, and guidelines for investigating users’ experiences and designing for them. This problem is emphasised by the lack of foundational framework, which would allow for comparing the metascientific and methodological assumptions behind different accounts of user experience. Here, such an account is presented in the form of foundational analysis of human-technology interaction. The resulting methodological framework is used to review theories of user experience with a conclusion that while the topics investigated under the umbrella of user experience seem to be the correct ones, their operationalisation lacks proper psychological basis. As a result of the foundational analysis of user experience, one of the core concepts related to conscious experience, emotion, is introduced, and different psychological accounts for it are reviewed using the methodological framework. Appraisal theory of emotion is shown to provide methodologically the best op- tion for studying emotional user experience. A review of empirical studies, in- cluded as the articles of this thesis, supports this conclusion. Emotional user experience is discussed in terms of (1) a competence-frustration model, (2) indi- vidual coping differences in human-technology interaction, (3) mental contents of emotional experience, and (4) the non-conscious cognitive processes associat- ed with the appraisal process. These elaborations can be used to investigate what users experience emotionally when they interact with technology, and explain these experiences. Such investigations should provide valid knowledge structures for designers, who aim to create technologies with certain experience goals. Keywords: user experience, emotion, appraisal, mental content Author’s address Jussi P. P. Jokinen Dept. of Computer Science and Information Systems University of Jyväskylä, Finland [email protected] Supervisors Pertti Saariluoma Dept. of Computer Science and Information Systems University of Jyväskylä, Finland Tuomo Kujala Dept. of Computer Science and Information Systems University of Jyväskylä, Finland Reviewers Satu Jumisko-Pyykkö Department of Pervasive Computing Tampere University of Technology Antti Oulasvirta Department of Communications and Networking Aalto University Opponents Matthias Rauterberg Department of Industrial Design Technische Universiteit Eindhoven Gilbert Cockton Dept. of Media and Communication Design Northumbria University ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS As I started my studies on emotion in human-technology interaction over four years ago, I wasn’t that familiar with the topic, nor with the field of human- technology interaction in general. What I’ve learned during my doctoral studies, and what I hopefully can teach to others, has not been achieved by myself alone, but with the help of multiple people: colleagues in academia, industrial part- ners, family members, study participants, and interviewees. Pertti Saariluoma has shaped my learning process the most. He took me as a student, I like to think because he believed in my ability to learn the field in which I did not have that much experience. I hope I have proven myself. I have benefited from your ideas that combine deep philosophical thought and practi- cal interest in actual matters. We may have certain metaphysical differences of opinion (which I do enjoy discussing in an academic manner), but on the level that matters the most, I believe you have taught me how to think correctly (not that I would always do so). My other supervisor, Tuomo Kujala has served in an enormously encouraging manner, both by listening to my problems and be- ing a living proof that what we are doing can be done, and it can be done well. My closest day-to-day collaborators have been Johanna Silvennoinen and Piia Perälä. Johanna, I enjoy our so far fruitful collaboration and (at times disor- ganised) discussions. You have already designed more fascinating topics of study than we would have time to explore, but I think this is the fate for anyone creative, artistic and intelligent. Piia, should you choose to continue on the sci- entific path, as I believe you should, you will come into great expectations. You are great at designing and carrying out experiments, and your handiwork is behind almost all of my publications. I have been lucky to work in a Tekes-funded Fimecc project UXUS (User experience and usability in complex systems) for the whole time I’ve been do- ing my dissertation. Having a network of academic and industrial collaborators to ask whether what you are doing makes any sense or is relevant to anyone is important. Especially I’d like to thank the project leader Maaria Nuutinen, Eija Kaasinen, and Virpi Roto, whose always implicit (and at relevant times explicit) belief in my work encouraged me. This dissertation would not be about emo- tional user experience without UXUS. I just hope I have been able to give to the project as much as I have benefited from it. While you are supposed to work on your dissertation when you are at work, I don’t think there are that many doctoral students who have not taken their work to their homes. Scientific problems follow you anywhere and do not ask whether you have time for them. I am grateful that my wife Jenni under- stands this, and she always tries to be interested in my problems, although it’s not her field of interest. You listen to me and support me, and thanks to you I can’t fall too deeply into the abyss of endless thought. Helsinki 8.5.2015 Jussi Jokinen FIGURES FIGURE 1 Framework for an artefact. .......................................................... 19 FIGURE 2 Conceptualisation process. .......................................................... 22 FIGURE 3 Methodological framework. ........................................................ 33 FIGURE 4 Circumplex of core affect. ............................................................ 51 FIGURE 5 Methodological position of appraisal theory. ........................... 58 TABLES TABLE 1 Lists of basic emotions. ................................................................. 47 TABLE 2 Questionnaire items for the competence-frustration model. .. 62 CONTENTS ABSTRACT ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS FIGURES AND TABLES CONTENTS LIST OF INCLUDED ARTICLES 1 INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................. 11 1.1 User experience and user psychology ................................................... 11 1.2 Approach of the study & the structure of the work ............................ 14 2 TECHNOLOGY AND THOUGHT ................................................................. 17 2.1 What is technology? ................................................................................. 17 2.2 Design as problem solving ...................................................................... 19 2.3 Design, explanation, and justification ................................................... 21 3 FOUNDATIONAL ANALYSIS OF HUMAN-TECHNOLOGY INTERACTION ............................................................................................................ 27 3.1 Metascience and methodology ..............................................................