Cognitive Design

Many of the cognitive designers I know are working on the problem of weight and eating habits.  Not that they are trying to design the perfect diet (some are) but more so, they are working to develop programs that helps us acquire and keep health eating habits despite a hectic lifestyle and easy access to unhealthy food and drink.  So I am always on the lookout for scientific studies that focus on eating habits with insights for designers.

For example, an article in Psychology & Health examines how eaters that intentionally restrain their calories both fail to take in less calories and generate significant guilt feelings.  Unfortunately, these guilt feelings can lead to more serious problems such as emotional eating.  Some specifics:

Checking the food afterwards, the researchers found that the restrained eaters – those who dieted often and who fretted about their consumption – had eaten just as much as the other participants, including just as much high-calorie food. But crucially, they felt more guilty afterwards, especially in relation to their recent indulgence.

The article is available for free and provides a rich set of references many with an open access URL.

I am interested to hear from readers that our working on projects focused on changing eating habits.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) convened an international panel of experts and held a workshop  to explore scientifically validated game designs that boost attention and well-being. The finding are encouraging.

They claim there is ample evidence that some types of video games enhance attention and executive control which in turn can improve self-regulation and well-being.

We also have a long-way to go before we understand how to design interactive media for specific cognitive effects.  The panel cited research that showed many serious games (those designed to purposes other than education) failed to produce the desired outcomes.  While at the same time some produce widespread unintended but fortunately positive effects.  The panel called for more research into the cognitive impacts of specific game mechanics, a focus on social/emotional skills and individual differences as well as improved validation and commercialization methods.

The full report is worth reading for cognitive designers working on game, interactive media, self-control  or well-being applications.

Some argue that we are awash in unethical behavior at all levels in society.  For example, check out David Callahan’s, The Cheating Culture: Why More Americans are Doing Wrong to Get Ahead.  Attempts to curb unethical behavior don’t appear to be doing the job.  Much like our attempts to change unhealthy behaviors, we spend a lot of money and do a lot of education but are still losing ground.

Unethical behaviors are driven by the choices we make and the habits we have.   To effect real change we need to understand the moral reasoning behind ethical choices and the cognitive science of how moral habits are formed. That’s why I am always on the look out for scientific studies of moral reasoning that offer actionable insights for designers. One of my favorite resources is the Morality Lab at Boston University where they study the cognitive neuroscience of moral reasoning.

Take for example, the recent finding  that priming can be used to shift your view on ethics and change behavior:

“Getting people to think about morality as a matter of objective facts rather than subjective preferences may lead to improved moral behavior.”

Here is the question they used to prime for moral realism: “Do you agree that some things are just morally right or wrong, good or bad, wherever you happen to be from in the world?” Nothing more complicated than that.

The design implications of this are clear. Communications, leadership talk and other messaging that promotes moral realism (ethics are a matter of fact) might  boost the effectiveness of your ethics effort.   You can access a draft of the entire paper HERE and be sure to check out the lab’s other publications.

I am interested to hear from other cognitive designers that are working on ethics challenges.

In the cognitive design blog we focus on how minds (individual, group and machine) actually work and how we can turn those insights into innovations.   Take for example, food psychology. How we think-and-feel about food controls our consumption behavior and our body mass index.  A  PLOS research article illustrates this nicely:

“Consumption with large sips led to higher food intake, as expected. Large sips, that were either fixed or chosen by subjects themselves led to underestimations of the amount consumed. This may be a risk factor for over-consumption. Reducing sip or bite sizes may successfully lower food intake, even in a distracted state.”

The effects were significant. For example, they found small bites led to 30% reduction in consumption if subjects were not distracted by watching a movie while they ate.

It appears that our minds are at some level deciding if we are full or not by counting how many bites or sips we take.  Change the size of the bite or sip or interfere with our ability to count and you have a pre-programmed impact on consumption.

In an earlier post I described enhancing well-being as one of the grand challenges of cognitive design. I received emails and comments asking for more detail. Fortunately,  the Society of Personality and Social Psychology just held an annual meeting that highlighted some relevant findings.  Researchers reported on several surprising connections between actions and well-being including:

* Getting a good night sleep enhances our ability to feel gratitude and other prosocial emotions which is essential for well-being.

* Spending money on others or even giving money (and time away) enhance our sense of wealth and contributes to a sense of well-being.

* Buying experiences (e.g. going to a concert) rather than something material (e.g. a new shirt) and telling stories about it enhances our sense of well-being.

Designs that maximize the psychological effects of being well-rested, generate a wealth effect from giving, and help us savor experiential purchases are examples of some of the cognitive effects we can consider when designing for well-being. Once we reach a basic level of health, wealth and happiness further enhancing well-being requires some real insight into how minds actually work.