Reading One

Some of the reading informing ideas here at emotionUXD

Zajonc, R. B., Feeling and Thinking: Preferences Need No Inferences. American Psychologist, 1980, 35, 151-175.

--- Some key points made here by an important, but now dead social psychologist. For example, "Contemporary psychology sees feelings as after cognition. Before one can like something they must be aware of it and have assessed some critical attributes."

"Yet feelings are a primary variable in interactions of people. The social interpretation of affect is as much non-verbal than verbal. People can differentiate the tone of voice much more reliably than the content (or even the language used!)."

"It seems that pictures are recognized faster than words, maybe because they elict affect faster than abstractions like words do."


Automatic Attention to Emotional Stimuli:
Neural Correlates by Luis Carretie, Jose´ A. Hinojosa, Manuel Martı´n-Loeches,
Francisco Mercado, and Manuel Tapia1. Human Brain Mapping 22:290 –299(2004)

---- Nice eeg results produced here. But what is more interesting for the emotionUXD project is the claim to be able to capture automatic attention, particularly through the use of negative imagery. The implications of this type of research for political campaigning are very interesting. Consider for example GW Bush's use of 9/11 imagery in his 2004 ad campaign.