Co-experience: Understanding user experiences in social interaction

Dourish in fact pursues the idea further by stating that these two interactions are
not enough to account for the complexity of interacting with computers, but the
multiple layers of abstraction and representation need a more thorough analysis
(as indeed has been done in the Interaction Frogger framework).
Focusing on the action in interaction connects the making of meaning to experience
– at least in some ways. People-oriented approaches may study meaning
as it has been created already, but do not account for how it emerges in the
first place. Product-centred models also often fail to acknowledge that the acceptance
of products is social and that people’s product related experiences are
context dependent. Kankainen and Fulton Suri base their person-centred model
on an axis of time – their model combines elements from several sources with
practical value. The people centred frameworks come closest to being interested
in emotions, and the interaction centred models are furthest away from
studying them – although emotions are central to experience. The relationship
between emotion, meaning and experience thus needs clarification.
2.2 EMOTIONS AND USER EXPERIENCE
52 2 USER EXPRERIENCE DEMYSTIFIED
In the frameworks described above, the person and his or her needs are addressed
and the product as a contributor to experience is analysed.
The study of emotions is relevant to design, because emotions are a key
part of experience and they influence people’s actions, expectations and future
evaluations. Emotions are an integral factor in people’s behaviour – and bad
experiences tend to influence more people than just the one with the direct experience.
Emotions are possibly the most researched aspect of user experience.
Perceptions are always first emotionally evaluated before any cognitive process
can take part (for a thorough account, see Damasio 2000). Studying emotional
responses is one aspect of learning about user experience. However, the relevance
of an emotional response is determined in how it affects the experiences
and actions that follow. From a user experience point of view an emotional response
emerges in a context and then is mixed back into the ongoing action and
interpretation process. Tracing the longer lasting effects of a particular response
becomes difficult. By necessity the study of user experience needs to track the
development of experiences and evaluations from a more holistic perspective.
2.2.1 EMOTIONS AS MOTIVATORS FOR ACTION
Hedonistic psychology suggests that people are driven by the pursuit of pleasure
and the avoidance of displeasure, and that the purpose of design is to
provide pleasure and minimise displeasure. Jordan’s adaptations of Tiger’s four