Cognitive Design

As we age, life reminds us that we are mortal.  We see things die and may have near death experiences.  An intensified sense of mortality has a powerful impact on our behavior in both the short and long term.   Some argue (terror management theorists) that it goes much further and that most of what we do is driven by a fear of death.   No matter what position you take it is hard to deny that how we embrace a sense of mortality strongly shapes major decisions, lifestyle and purpose in life.   Important factors in many cognitive design problems so I am always on the lookout for scientific studies that offer insights in how the psychology of  mortality is working at a practical level.

Take for example, the recent article in the Journal of Economic Psychology on Money and the Fear of Death.  The researchers conducted four experiments that suggest money can help us quell the anxiety caused by our sense or mortality.  They argue this effect flows from the symbolic aspects of money and an increased sense of confidence and self-reliance that it brings.  In their own words:

“We conclude that, beyond its pragmatic utility, money possesses a strong psychological meaning that helps to buffer existential anxiety.”

If true, this means that money helps us to feel immortal.

About three years ago in my Cognitive Design class at Northwestern a small group of students focused on applying insights from reversal theory to hard design problems.   They used it as a way to model motivational states – one of the four psychology states (motivational, affective, intellectual and volitional) we study in cognitive design.

The idea behind reversal theory is that human motivations are complex and often conflicting. We can model motivation in terms of four types of states and how we switch or reverse our positions on each. The four states include how we are:

1.  playful or serious

2.  other or self-focused

3. focused on control or sympathy

4.  conforming or challenging.

Our motivation in any given context can be explained as a mixture of these four states. Changes in our motivation are caused by reversals in any one of the states. For example when we go from playful to serious or from sympathetic to controlling. They shape the meaning we assign to events and objects which in turn generate emotions such as enjoyment, communal feeling, caring and a sense of freedom.

Michael Apter, a leading researcher in reversal theory goes farther emphasizing the central role of motivation in determining emotion:

“But to the extent to which designers deliberately attempt to induce emotions, they typically overlook the fact that emotions arise only through motivations, each emotion representing a desirable or undesirable way of experiencing a particular motivation.  Reversal theory has the potential to provide a framework for design by identifying ways in which ‘things’ (in the most general sense) induce motivational states. “

To bring it to a sharper point, as cognitive designers we can consider features and functions that trigger a reversal in any of the four mental states described above.

For a designer friendly introduction check out the reversal theory training site.

In my leadership class at Northwestern University we spend time learning how to identify the basic assumptions that make up the shared mental model in a given culture. These can run deep, as deep as philosophy.  For example, some cultures believe fundamentally in the ability of science to produce objective knowledge while other cultures don’t  even know science and believe in oral history as the primary source of knowledge.   Or less dramatically, some corporations believe in making decisions based on data and math while others are happy to follow the intuitions of a small group of leaders.

Basic assumptions go unquestioned and usually involve beliefs in what is real, how you acquire knowledge and truth and what constitutes value.

So I am always on the lookout for new insights into the basic assumptions that shape how groups of people perceive the world, think, make decisions and behave. Take for example the excellent article and interview in Strategy + Business on the Dueling Myths of Business.  The article identifies five basic assumptions about economics (seeking growth), ecology (seeking health of  a larger system),  heroics (seeking to win), religion (seeking goodness) and science (seeking truth through reason).

Each of the basic assumption is rooted deeply in human psychology:

“The idea of business, for example, is a very powerful human creation, based on the economic myth: The best thing to do is to grow as large as possible. This myth is closely linked to the parental impulse, which is one of the most powerful impulses that human beings have.”

And they all have limits, for example:

“The ecological myth says that the health of a whole system depends on complex interrelationships. It therefore tries to take everyone’s needs into account, which can lead to immense expense and gridlock.”

Understanding what your group believes around each of the five basic  assumptions can help leaders mitigate disputes as well as guide fundamental change. They are also an excellent source of insights for cognitive designers looking to create processes and programs that improve group performance.

Source of image: Deep Well

A belief in a god or gods and the institutions and practices that go along with it are a powerful psychological experience for millions of people daily. The opportunities for cognitive designers to learn from and enhance that experience are numerous. Some examples:

• Are Megachurches Masterstrokes of Cognitive Design?
• Are Believers Better Self-Regulators?
• Design Inspirations from Extreme Mental States 

So I am always on the look out for scientific studies on the nature of religious beliefs, experiences and artifacts with insights that are useful for cognitive designers.

Take for example, the recent article in Trends in Cognitive Sciences on the Origins of Religious Disbelief.   The researchers argue that non-belief flows from cognitive, motivational and cultural learning sources and takes four different forms.  An excellent framework for cognitive designers working on programs to convert non-believers. The article also catalogs some 9 mechanisms involved in driving the intensity of religious beliefs that could be used to inform the design of religious artifacts and experiences.

I am interested to hear from readers that are working on applications in religion.

Source of Image: Religious Symbols

Historically we have measured general intelligence using a single number – IQ. That’s not a good idea according to research led by the Brain and Mind Institute at Western University in Canada. They put a set of 12 standardized tests that measure reasoning, planning, memory and other aspects of intelligence online and got some 100,000 people to complete them. Researchers ran a few subjects through a fMRI scanner as they completed the test so they could also look at the activity in various brain regions.

What they found was that human intelligence  emerges from the interaction of three independent cognitive components including working memory, reasoning and a verbal component.

They published the results as Fractionating Human Intelligence, in the journal Neuron.

The amount of data generated  on IQ is unprecedented and is rich in finding relevant for cognitive designers. For example:

“Intriguingly, people who regularly played computer games did perform significantly better in terms of both reasoning and short-term memory. And smokers performed poorly on the short-term memory and the verbal factors, while people who frequently suffer from anxiety performed badly on the short-term memory factor in particular”.

You can access the tests they used online for free at Cambridge Brain Science.  You can also participate in the next round of the study HERE. These test are useful tools for cognitive designers interested in showing their innovations are improving baseline intelligence.

For other practical tools for estimating  impact on cognition check out measure how well your brain works and measure your cognitive performance.

I am interested to hear from readers that take these tests or use them in cognitive design work.

Bad things tend to have a bigger impact on our thoughts, feelings and actions than good things do.   Recent research suggests, Greed Not Generosity is More Likely to be Paid Forward.

“In five experiments involving money or work, participants who received an act of generosity didn’t pay generosity forward any more than those who had been treated equally. But participants who had been the victims of greed were more likely to pay greed forward to a future recipient, creating a negative chain reaction.”

While this is not a “happy finding” it is important for cognitive designers.  Generosity is less a contagion than greed just as bad news spreads much faster and farther than good news.  While this is likely tied to survival and rooted in our evolution it can limit cooperation and cultural development.  You can access the full paper for free HERE.

Scientific American has a short article that does a good job summarizing the Three Critical Elements that Sustain Motivation.  While we have covered the elements  extensively on the Cognitive Design blog, it is worthwhile to review. The elements that sustain motivation include self-determination, value and competence.    To keep going on tough tasks it is important to feel in charge, that the activity is worthwhile, you have the skill to get started and those skills improve with time.  This helps to explain why some children avoid math and spend hours on video games.

While this seems simple, a complicating factor is that many of the challenges we face are forced on us by external factors.  There is a change at work that requires we learn new skills or the doctors tells us its time for a lifestyle change.  In both cases there is no sense of autonomy, a differed sense of value and a perception of incompetence.   Many of the motivational remedies offered seem straight forward but take considerable skill to use in practice, especially on groups.

For example, to help me feel like I am setting direction  my boss puts me on a team to help define the details of  the change or my doctor lets me select a plan of exercise and diet.  The hope is I will become engaged in making critical decision and develop a sense of ownership.  After a while I might even think it is my idea. Of course I need to have enough motivation to work on the team or make the lifestyle decisions.  And unfortunately,  I was assigned the task, won’t see the immediate value to it nor feel particularly competent at it.  Not much motivation for doing the task that is suppose to help me get motivated. A bit of a regress.

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Writers that use specific adjectives that vividly invoke our senses sell more books. At least that is the result from research at Purdue. The finding holds for children and adult books as well as classic works and contemporary best sellers.  The title of the study playfully attempts to illustrate the finding - A Ridiculously Unbelievably Preposterous Conclusion: Use of Adjectives in Best-Selling Book.

Sensory adjectives are those that are directly connected to taste, touch, smell, hearing or seeing. For example, grubby, tart, musty and immense are sensory adjectives.  The study found for example, that Mark Twain used approximately 17 adjectives in every 100 words written!

Source of image: EducationWorld

A placebo is a substance with no medicinal properties that can nevertheless have therapeutic effects on some people.  Sometimes called sugar pills or sham medicine, they produce real changes in our psychology, bodies and well being.   How and why they work is a bit of a mystery but recent research  led by the University of Michigan Medical School suggests personality factors play a role.

Researcher tested a dozen healthy subjects for a response to a pain placebo. They found angry or hostile type subjects showed little response whereas those that were resilient, trustworthy and altruistic showed the best response. To quote:

“We ended up finding that they greatest influence came from a series of factors related to individual resiliency, the capacity to withstand and overcome stressors and difficult situations. People with those factors had the greatest ability to take environmental information — the placebo — and convert it to a change in biology.”

The change in biology here refers to the fact that they are generating natural pain killers at multiple sites in their brain.

While this study needs to be replicated on larger groups the fact that adaptive personality traits make the best use of placebos will catch some by surprise.

As we have reported elsewhere on the Cognitive Design Blog placebo effects are widespread and real. They even work with processes or rituals that don’t involve pills, injections or clinical equipment.   The door is wide-open for some creative cognitive designers to develop ethical uses of the placebo effect to address any number of organizational and individual challenges. How about a pill or ritual that accelerates organizational change or doubles my creativity?

The perception of time plays a critical role in service and experience design. Things can seem to take forever or end way too soon for a variety of psychological reasons.  So I am always on the look out for new cognitive science studies on time perception that have implications for designers.

For instance , recent research has uncovered that if we know two events are causally connected we expect them to be close together in time.   One implication is that our knowledge of causation can seriously distort our perception of time and therefore the nature of experience we have.  An example  from the research:

” if people believe that they (or someone or something else) are in charge, the time appears to pass faster.”

Another example is the time experience after pushing an elevator button. If I push it, the elevator seems to take a long time. On the other hand if you push it, the elevator appears to arrive promptly.

From a cognitive design standpoint  this puts a premium on understanding the cause-and-effect assumptions we use to access the features in products and services.  There is an opportunity to leverage (not change) them to use temporal binding and create a more positive experience.

I am interested to hear from readers that  have used design to warp time experience. What causal assumptions did you leverage?