AFFECT IN WEB INTERFACE: A Study of the Impacts of Web page Visual Complexity and Order

By: Nesma Sabrah

Introduction

Designing for usability has been one of the primary foci on HCI.

The affective perspective of user interface design emphasizes the user’s subjective experience with the interface.

by nature, human beings are judgmental i.e. assigning positive or negative valence to the environment.

Affect linkages

Attitudes

Cognitions

Motivations

AFFECT

Introduction (continued)

Bucy argues that emotional responses determines which interface people choose to use.

They seek pleasure and enjoyment beyond task efficiency.

Webpage visual complexity and order are important design features that affect user’s initial emotional responses towards a website.

This research investigates web user’s emotional reactions to different webpage designs with varying levels of visual complexity and order.

Theoretical Background – The M-R Model

The M-R model suggests that emotions function to mediate the effects of environmental stimuli on behavior.

It assumes that people’s emotions determine what they do and how they do it and that people respond with different sets of emotions to different environments which induces to approach or avoid these environments.

Approach-Avoidance behaviors predicts that user’s emotional responses affects whether: they stay within the particular site or leave the site and move onto other site.

The Approach-avoidance Behavior

Approach-avoidance behavior is considered important to this study because: a user’s behavior reflects the user’s

perception of the quality of the website it strongly predicts desired behaviors

pertaining to the measurement of the success of a website such as customer service, total number of hits, user’s return rate.

it will lead to more time spent browsing, greater exploration of products and hence, probability of purchase.

Complexity and Order

Arnheim defines complexity as “the multiplicity of the relationships among parts of an entity.”

Complexity is related to the visual richness, information rate, diversity and variety of information in an environment.

Arnheim defines order “as the degree and kind of lawfulness governing the relations among the parts of an entity.”

Order is the degree of organization of the environment in relation to coherence, congruity, legibility and clarity that it exhibits.

Complexity Order

Kaplan and Kaplan’s Preference Framework (1983)

It is a perspective on aesthetic preferences that explains how visual complexity and order influence people’s preference of environment.

There are two cognitive processes crucial to human survival: Making Sense: Coherence and legibility Involvement: having complexity and

mystery

Lavie and Tractinsky’s Study

Similarly, user’s perceptions of website aesthetics consist of two dimensions:1. Classic Aesthetics – orderly, clear, clean

and symmetrical design of a website.2. Expressive Aesthetics – visual richness,

diversity and complexity.

Both dimensions positively influence feelings of pleasure and usability.

Emotions•The

subjective experience of energy mobilization for psychological and motor activity.

Arousal

•It is the subjective feeling of pleasantness or unpleasantness.

Valence

Reversal Theory

Reversal theory proposes two different meta-motivational states:1. Telic State

characterized as goal-oriented in which the ultimate goal is perceived as essential.

A high level of arousal is experienced as unpleasant and associated with anxiety since it interferes with the achievement of the goal.

2. Paratelic State Is related to excitement seeking Characterized as acivity-oriented where the goal of the

activity is not important compared to the ongoing activity. A high level of arousal is experienced as pleasant whereas low

level is experienced as unpleasant.

Research Model

Relation between visual complexity and order AND emotional responses.

Complexity (diverse and numerous information) has been consistently shown to be positively related to arousal(energy mobilization).

Order (coherence, clarity and diversity) has been found to bear a negative relationship to arousal since it requires less energy to comprehend.

Reversal Theory AND Emotional responses

In a telic state, a webpage with high complexity and low order (high arousal)will create unpleasant feelings since it decreases task efficiency and requires high energy. And vice versa.

In a paratelic state, a webpage with high complexity and low order would be gratifying and pleasant as it satisfies the need for a rich, stimulating experience. And vice versa.

HYPOTHESES (1 AND 2)

H1: The level of webpage order negatively influences the user’s feeling of arousal.

H2: The level of webpage complexity positively influences the user’s feeling of arousal.

HYPOTHESES (3 AND 4)

H3: A web user’s meta-motivational state moderates the effect of webpage order in the user’s feeling of pleasantness. H3a: in a telic state, level of order positively influences

pleasantness. H3b: in a paratelic state, order negatively influences

pleasantness. H4: A web user’s meta-motivational state moderates the

effect of webpage visual complexity on the user’s feeling of pleasantness. H4a: in a telic state, complexity negatively influences

pleasantness. H4b: in paratelic state, complexity positively influences

pleasantness.

HYPOTHESES (5 AND 6)

H5: A web user’s pleasantness positively influences the user’s approach tendency toward the website.

H6: A web user’s meta-motivational state moderates the relationship between the user’s arousal and approach tendency toward the website. H6a: in a telic state, arousal negatively

influences the user’s approach tendency. H6b. In a paratelic state, arousal positively

influences the user’s approach tendency.

Experimental Procedure

12 versions of webpage stimuli (an online gift store’s homepage)

4 levels of Complexity 3 levels of Order 2 meta-motivational states (Telic or Paratelic) 4(complexity)x 3(order)x 2(metamotvational

state) = 24 treatments 20 seconds of examing the webpage followed

by a questionnaire of the participant’s emotional response to the webpage.

Analysis and Results

After a lot of statistical analysis of result, to a very large extent all the hypotheses have been confirmed.

This study applied and largely supported the hypotheses drawn from prior research on environmental aesthetics and preference.

THE END!

Thank you!!