Book Reading #41: Why We Make Mistakes



Book Author: Joseph T. Hallinan

chapter 2:

This chapter delves into memory recall, how it works, techniques to enhance memory, and differences that exist amongst people. Hallinan also gives us examples to illustrate his claims. The problem of memory is illustrated with the "penny description" experiment, and "face,name matching" exercise.  Hallinan also links the problem of memory to historical methods of identifying criminals.

One thing we are introduced to is the tip-of-the-tongue slip where a person replaces one thing with another. He gives the example of crossing Albert Einstein and Joe Thiesman.

chapter 3:

This chapter deals about the process upon which people  connect the dots given a situation.Many times we forget things because a link has been broken that messes up what we thought we knew.

 One interesting thing that is mentioned is about being flexible, and willing to change one's mind. Instead of having a decisive, and resolved attitude, Hallinan explains that doing the opposite can be beneficial as in the case of multiple choice tests where students typically do better if they reconsider their answers.  In the heat of the moment, there may be a process that leads us to choose the wrong answer.

Finnally, we learn about the effectiveness of advertising in influencing people.  For example, a photo can contribute to the victory or loss of a political pundit,  and the reason is that people make connections based on minute details.

Book Reading #38: Why We Make Mistakes



Book Author: Joseph T. Hallinan

chapter 0:
Reading this chapter reminded me of Donald Norman's chapter 5 in Design of Everyday Things that listed the different types of errors we make. In this case, we have more of a general overview of types of errors people usually make. This introductory chapter essentially confirms what Donald Norman told us about mistakes: To err is human. There are a lot of types of mistakes we make everyday. Some where we are aware, and some where we are unaware. Some are simple mistakes, and some have potentially serious consequences.
Hallinan, though, gives us new examples from the ones given by Norman, and gives us different methods we can use to enhance mistakes linked to memory recall. Being in the same environment in which we memorized something, increases the chances of recalling things.

chapter 1:

This chapter details more kinds of mistakes as well as explains how they occur. These types of mistakes are then backed up by examples. One case in particular, which I had learned about through D. Norman's book, is the one where a group of students were asked to identify the parts of a penny, and their details. Most students were unable to recall the characteristics of the penny. In Norman's book, the explanation for these observations was that this was linked to the way we remember things. For example, when I think of a penny, I may only recall the color, size, and which president is on the coin. This isn't a problem because this is enough for me to know the function, and worth of this penny. I don't need to know the date on the penny, or anything else to use the penny.
Next, Hallinan talks about how medical lab workers and people who work x-ray security at the airport commonly miss things.

Full Blog: Emotional Design

Book Author: Donald Norman

Summary:

In chapter 1, Norman discusses why attractive things are more efficient. Emotions help a person make decisions and when that person is happy, it increases thought processes and encourages creative thinking. He then goes on to explain how attractive design allows for a more enjoyable experience and helps people figure things out.

Norman also discusses the three levels of processing:

• visceral (the automatic layer),
•  behavioral (everyday behavior layer)
• reflective (contemplative layer).

He then discusses how the three levels interact with each other and how they relate to focus and creativity. 

In chapter 2, Norman talks about different levels of viewing a design:

• visceral design is about the initial impact of a product, about its appearance, touch and feel.
• the behavioural level is about use, about experience with a product. As expected if a system is easy to use and effective, the outcome of this experience determines our positive attitude towards it.
• reflective level:  where consciousness and the highest levels of feeling, emotions and cognition reside. This is where the interaction between product and user is important and the most vulnerable to variability.

Defining the interaction between the three levels is complex. Norman maps the levels as follows.

 visceral design-> appearance
behavioral design-> the pleasure and effectiveness of use
reflective design-> self-image, personal satisfaction, memories

He then gives the example of video games and proposes remaking the video game to cater to wider audiences rather than young males. This would increase buyers. He proposes changes such as making the controllers look more feminine, easy to use, and with more useful content. He also thinks the video game could be used in a kitchen as a cooking aid, or in the living room as a reference manual, or for students as a source of simulation, experiments, and useful information.
He then talks about how objects evoke memories, like pictures or souvenirs, and then talks about the feelings of self. Feeling of self is culturally specific and hence difficult to consider in a design. He finally talks abou the personality of products, and the importance of corporations in giving customers a sense of involvement, importance.

In chapter 3, Norman discusses the three levels of design. As mentioned in the previous chapter, we can resume them as the following:

visceral design is about the initial impact of a product, about its appearance, touch and feel.

the behavioural level is about use, about experience with a product. As expected if a system is easy to use and effective, the outcome of this experience determines our positive attitude towards it.

reflective level:  where consciousness and the highest levels of feeling, emotions and cognition reside. here is where the interaction between product and user is important and the most vulnerable to variability.

Norman also talks about the the process of design by committee and the process of design by the individual.

Discussion:

This was the second title by Donald Norman assigned as reading material for the class. Per instruction by Dr. Hammond, we stopped reading the book at chapter 3. The reason being that by that point we could figure the main points he was trying to convey. The rest of the book probably had more examples and illustrations of his concepts.  Through an eagle eye, Norman does a good job explaining to us the challenges a designer faces with respect to emotion. He also does a great job walking us through some of the processes that go on when a person is faced with a product. The ideas presented are interesting, and once again, just like in Design of Everyday Things, Norman is effective in illustrating his claims.

 

Full Blog: Obedience to Authority

Book Author: Stanley Milgram

summary:
In chapter 1, Milgram introduced us to why the issue of obedience was important to study. His conclusion was that a dilemma faces anyone who enters into an agreement to be part of a system. When the system requires them to do something with which they disagree, they must either be loyal to their moral standards or loyal to the system.

In chapter 2, Milgram explained the set up of his study.

In chapter 3,  he asked psychological professionals what they thought a person would do when confronted with his experiment. Most thought that people would not agree to do what he would ask.

In chapter 4 he described the basic series of experiments in which the closeness of the "victim" would be manipulated.

In chapter 5 he gave us detailed information about how particular people behaved in a stressful situation, and the reasons they gave for their behavior. These first 5 chapters are the heart of the book.

Chapters 6, 8, and 9 are additional variations on the study.

Chapter 7 contains more interviews with subjects.

Chapters 10 through 12 contain Milgram's attempt to explain why obedience to authority has such a strong hold on our behavior. He analyzes the cognitive as well as emotional aspect.
These lead to his establishing of the agentic state, the psychological state the obedient subject is in when he or she is obeying authority.

In the  final chapter Milgram relates his findings in comparison to the real world and discusses the Vietnam War. He attempts to correlate obedience in the war to the obedience he observed in the lab.

discussion:

Having read about Milgram's experiment in "Opening Skinner's box" by Lauren Slater, I thought I had a good overall understanding of his experiments. This book taught me that his experiments were quite involved, and that they included  number of quantitative observations. Always surprising to read, though, is the reaction of participants to his experiments. I always felt I knew the outcome of his experiments, but would then be proven wrong. No participant ever questioned the procedure outlined by Milgram, even after he gave them  a chance to ask questions.


After reaching the 75-volt level, they were confronted with their fellow participant's first sign of pain, and 10% of them responded to this experession of discomfort by speaking to the experimenter. By 150 volts, 19 (47.5%) participants had at least checked with the experimenter about the experimental procedure. By 270 volts, all (100%) of the participants had at least checked with the experimenter about the procedure. It was observed of the people that did not comply with the experimenter it was hard to be deviant of the instructions the longer they followed directions.

Regardless of what we think about Milgram's experiments, it's undeniable that he has made us reconsider what we think we know about human behaviour, free will, and obedience to authority.



Book Reading #36: Obedience to Authority

Book Author: Stanley Milgram

Chapter 9:
In this Chapter, Milgram describes two variations on his experiment. He then discusses the effect of the group. Next, he gives us his definition of conformity and obedience. According to him, the main differences is that obedience to authority requires some type of hierarchical system while conformity is simply following suit, but does not necessarily mean obedience.

Chapter 10:
In this chapter, Milgram attempts to figure the root causes of obedience. This analysis is mainly based off of the experiments described in the previous chapters. We also learn a new term from Milgram which is agentic. The agentic state occurs in the case of a person feeling they have been called upon to carry out a person's deeds. This state, says Milgram, is an important block to his analysis.

Chapter 11:
In this chapter, Milgram explores what things can help predict a person's behaviour lik a person's upbringing, the institutions he's been in, and if he has been subject to any type of rewards system. Milgram also analyzes the behaviours observed during experimentation and tries to justify them. Some possible explanations are: a perception of a genuine authoritative figure, the lack of any objections to the authority figure, and a visible link between the function andcommands being given.
The agentic state is also further explained with its characteristics. 

Chapter 12:

Chapter 12 changes the focus on obedience and its origin to disobedience. Indeed, he discusses what sources produce strain and ways people recuperate from strain through explicit acts of disobedience with the authority. This also can be translated by physical responses such as trembling and sweating.

Chapter 13:
In chapter 13 Milgram provides a different angle on his analysis: Aggression. For him, that cannot be used as a valid explanation though. He also mentions soldiers and a different experiment done by Buss and Berkowitz that investigated aggression.

Chapter 14:
In chapter 14, Milgram defends some of the assertions that have been brought up to nullify his experiments. Some of them are about his findings. How could his findings be valid considering subjects did not think they were really shocking other people. Another criticism is on the pool of people from which he chose to conduct his experiment. Another criticism is on the feasibility of the experiment outside of a laboratory setting. Milgram address each critic one by one.