Aesthetic interaction as fit between interaction attributes and experiential qualities

Lenz, Eva; Hassenzahl, Marc and Diefenbach, Sarah (December 2017): Aesthetic interaction as fit between interaction attributes and experiential qualities. In: New Ideas in Psychology, Vol. 47: pp. 80-90

Abstract

Designing an aesthetic interaction is an important issue for Interaction Design (ID) and Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). While a number of frameworks exist, the experimental study of potential underlying principles remains rare. In this paper, we suggest that particular interaction attributes (e.g., “fast”) are systematically related to particular experiential qualities (e.g., “feeling competent”) and that interaction “feels better” if interaction matches the intended experience. A laboratory study (N = 32) explores this notion by testing two different ways of interacting within the same activity (opening a wine bottle) in two different experiential scenarios (focusing on relatedness, focusing on competence). Two corkscrews with different interaction profiles were used: one assumed to support a feeling of competence and the other to support relatedness. As expected, we found systematic shifts in preferences for specific corkscrews, differences in affective experience and in the relationships between interaction attributes and experiential qualities depending on the fit of interaction to the experience.

• Item Type: Journal article
• Keywords: Aesthetics of interaction; Interaction attributes; Experiential qualities; Psychological needs; Aesthetic principle; Practices
• Faculties: Psychology and Education Science > Department Psychology > Economic and Organizational Psychology
• Subjects: 100 Philosophy and Psychology > 150 Psychology
• ISSN: 0732-118X; 1873-3522
• Language: English