Abstract Both ofHuman Computer Interaction (HCI) and Psychology aim to deliver a useful, accessible and usable software. This paper intends to outline psychology in relation to the Human Computer Interaction (HCI) field. The focus in the Psychology does not mean that other aspects of HCI are not vital. However, this article tries to assess whether the Psychology is also vital. Cognitive Psychology is breakdown. Also, addressing the role of emotions. The existing related research areas and finally the state of the future research.
Keywords HCI, Psychology, Cognitive Psychology, Emotion.
I. Introduction
HCI is a multidisciplinary field. It contributes in many diverse areas such that: Psychology, Sociology, Engineering, and many more. Besides that, Cognitive Psychology is one branch of psychology which studies how the mind works. Moreover, this can be improved and function well by examining the psychology areas that have proven most useful to user experience.
II. Human-Computer Interaction (HCI)
Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) is the study of the interacting of both the computerized devices and their users. This study is drawn from several surrounding fields but not limited to them, such as: Psychology. Sociology. Ergonomics. Engineering. Business. Computer Science Art and graphic design.
Figure [0.0]
Human Computer Interaction (HCI) is mainly about all the attempt where you try to deliver or make a program that is accessible, usable and useful to humans. It is not just about the program/website layouts, colors and whether they used a visible font or not. It does matter on an individual level, but programs are strongly influenced with what's beyond that. To illustrate, Human Computer Interaction (HCI) is affected by the psychology in which people interact with the device. It means that a system should adapt the user's behaviour and perceive things in a way to help them achieve their intended goals. According to Computer Science Field Guide (2015), Human Computer Interaction (HCI) “involves the study, planning, and design of the interaction between people (the users) and computers. It is often regarded as the intersection of computer science, behavioral sciences, design and several other fields of study.” Thus by understanding the Essence of Human Computer Interaction (HCI), it would be easier for developers to create software that are more likely practical and well-liked. Otherwise, people would be more liable to be frustrated while using a computer system that does not react well in their way to achieving a particular task.
III. Psychology
Psychology is the attitude of a user or a group of users and their mental characteristics. Also “Psychology is the science of the mind. The human mind is the most complex machine on Earth. It is the source of all thought and behaviour” (Bbc.co.uk, 2015).
Figure [1.0]
Naturally we can not see inside the human brains and know what someone is might thinking. Nor can we observe their memories, dreams, perceptions and emotions. Instead, Psychologists go for an equivalent approach to the scientists where they predict how users should be behaving and advise experiments to confirm or decline their expectations.
‘The deepest sin against the human mind is to believe things without evidence.'
Thomas H. Huxley English biologist
(1825- 1895) Bbc.co.uk (2015) pointed out “Since the German psychologist Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920) opened the first experimental psychology lab in Leipzig in 1879, we have learned an
enormous amount about the relationship between brain, mind, and behaviour”. Psychologists use the human behaviour as a clue to understanding the state in which a brain works. While this can not be observed directly, psychologists take human behaviour as the raw data to test their theories about how a mind works. Because all that we do, say, think and feel is verified by the functioning of the mind. Branches of psychology
In the way to explain why humans think or behave in a certain way, this will be linked to of the Psychology branches. There are an extremely wide range of Psychology disciplines that
include the following:
Developmental psychology. Occupational psychology. Evolutionary psychology. Cognitive psychology. Forensic psychology. Clinical psychology. Health psychology. Social psychology. Neuropsychology.
In this paper, the Cognitive Psychology is broken down further as follow:
Cognitive Psychology
Cognitive Psychology is the branch of psychology that studies how the mind works, think, perceive, learn and remember. Cognitive Psychology considered as a modern discipline that tries to draw out answers from experiments. “It is concerned with the acquisition, representation and use of human knowledge and it investigates the mental processes “by which the sensory input is transformed, reduced, elaborated, stored, recovered and used” (Neisser, 1967, pp. 4-5).
Figure [2.0]
According to Neisser, whose textbook is the seminal work in this field, “the task of trying to understand human cognition is analogous to that of an attempt to understand how a computer has been programmed” (p.6). Moreover, the reason for the chosen analogy is that a computer program is a “recipe for selecting, storing, recovering, combining, outputting and manipulating information” (p.8). As the computer operates computationally, so too, it seems, does the human mind. This computational view of mind is the dominant metaphor in contemporary cognitive psychology (Matlin, 1989).
The following lines discusses one of the most important aspects of psychology:
Emotion
Irina Cristescu., 2008 highlight the fact that “Emotions are an important factor in life, and they play an essential role to understand user’s behavior with computer interaction”. In addition, the emotional intelligence plays a significant role to measure aspects of success in life (M. Pantic and L. J. M. Rothkrantz., 2003). The primary focus of the recent research on Human Computer Interaction does not give attention only to the cognitive approach; rather it spotlight on the emotions part as well. While both approaches are
crucial, emotions are an imperative aspect that it solves some of the critical aspects o f the design in Human Computer Interaction systems. Furthermore the human-machine interaction could be better if the machine can adapt its behavior according to users, and this system is seen more natural, efficacious, persuasive, and trustworthy by users (M. Pantic and L. J. M. Rothkrantz., 2003).
When the question ”What is the link between emotions and design?” rises. The respond is ”Our feelings strongly influence our perceptions and often frame how we think or how we refer to our experiences at a later date”. Emotion is the differentiator in our experience (Irina Cristescu., 2008).
Figure [3.0]
As a society, we tend to be affected by the positive and negative emotions towards the consumption of the product. Emotions are an important part in our life; it is why efficient computing was developed. As stated in Yvonne Rogers et al. (2011) ”Affective computing is to develop computer-based system that recognize and express emotions in the same way humans do”.
In Human Computer Interaction, the nonverbal communication plays an important role, in that we can identify the difficulties that users stumble upon, by measuring the emotions in facial
expressions (Irina Cristescu, 2008). Therefore a number of studies that have investigated people’s reactions and responses to computers that have been designed to be more human-like. Moreover, several studies had reported a positive impact of computers that were designed to flatter and praise users when they did something right. With this system, users have a better opinion of themselves (Reading for Pleasure, 2009).
IV. HCI in relation to Psychology
According to Carroll (1997), throughout the past two decades, HCI has gradually integrated its scientific concerns with the engineering goal of improving the usability of computer systems and applications, which has resulted in a body of technical knowledge and methodology. Recent research in Human Computer Interaction (HCI) field has continuously highlighted the importance of developing and applying psychological theories in the context of HCI. The study of Human Computer Interaction (HCI) does involve much of psychology. Mainly things like how people behave or react upon something will affect the way in which they will interact with the system. For an example, humans short-term memory that only lasts for few seconds will no longer remember what were they doing in case there is a delay in the device response. That extra work makes the system usage tiring to users. Another example is when a user gets captured by his/her actions. That is so frequent in the context of confirmation dialogues when user gets to do the same action repeatedly unconsciously or perhaps accidentally.
Many people may get frustrated and blame themselves for such frequent errors and here where psychology appears. In general real systems shall protect users from those mistakes (maybe by allowing the users to undo the task or similar solutions).
V. Conclusion
To summarize, this article has spot the light on the Psychology in relation to the Human Computer Interaction (HCI). As technology advances, many more applications show that they are usable as much as the others. Taking into consideration the theoretical guidelines for developing such systems, for sure will be advantageous for software and systems engineering as well. Psychology definition is given along with its different branches. Also, the very young branch Cognitive Psychology has clearly identified. What exactly is cognitive psychology and What do cognitive psychologists do? Also, Emotions has been addressed earlier. When the question ”What is the link between emotions and design?” rises. The respond is ”Our feelings strongly influence our perceptions and often frame how we think or how we refer to our experiences at a later date”. So by understanding the essence of Human Computer Interaction (HCI), it would be easier for developers to create software that are more practical and usable.
VI. Future Work & Discussion
A few research works have been conducted to evaluate the impact of Psychology in HCI. Cognitive psychology is a relatively immature branch of psychology, yet it has grown fast to become one of the most up-to-the-minute fields. This is a topic that has a future and will be increasingly present in our technologies life because emotions play a significant role in our life. Active Interfaces and applications can help people to feel better with computers and in the daily life. Stress, frustration and angry can be reduced with sensible and adaptive systems. Finally the challenge today is to improve technologies to collect data from different features. Existing systems must be enhanced to identify emotions despite factors that can skew results.
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