Emotional Design Read Online Free Page A

enhanced or inhibited by the reflective layer and, in turn, it can enhance or inhibit the visceral layer. The highest layer is that of reflective thought. Note that it does not have direct access either to sensory input or to the control of behavior. Instead it watches over, reflects upon, and tries to bias the behavioral level.
    (Modified from a figure by Daniel Russell for Norman, Ortony, & Russell, 2003.)

    Animals such as lizards operate primarily at the visceral level. This is the level of fixed routines, where the brain analyzes the world and responds. Dogs and other mammals, however, have a higher level of analysis, the behavioral level, with a complex and powerful brain that can analyze a situation and alter behavior accordingly. The behavioral level in human beings is especially valuable for well-learned, routine operations. This is where the skilled performer excels.
    At the highest evolutionary level of development, the human brain can think about its own operations. This is the home of reflection, of conscious thought, of the learning of new concepts and generalizations about the world.
    The behavioral level is not conscious, which is why you can successfully drive your automobile subconsciously at the behavioral level while consciously thinking of something else at the reflective level. Skilled performers make use of this facility. Thus, skilled piano players can let their fingers play automatically while they reflect upon the higher-order structure of the music. This is why they can hold conversations while playing and why performers sometimes lose their place in the music and have to listen to themselves play to find out where they are. That is, the reflective level was lost, but the behavioral level did just fine.
    Now let’s look at some examples of these three levels in action: riding a roller coaster; chopping and dicing food with a sharp, balanced knife and a solid cutting board; and contemplating a serious work of literature or art. These three activities impact us in different ways. The first is the most primitive, the visceral reaction to falling, excessive speed, and heights. The second, the pleasure of using a good tool effectively, refers to the feelings accompanying skilled accomplishment, and derives from the behavioral level. This is the pleasure any expert feels when doing something well, such as driving a difficult course or playing a complex piece of music. This behavioral pleasure, in turn, is different from that provided by serious literature or art,
whose enjoyment derives from the reflective level, and requires study and interpretation.

    FIGURE 1.2 People pay money to get scared.
    The roller coaster pits one level of affect—the visceral sense of fear—against another level—the reflective pride of accomplishment.
    (Photograph by Bill Varie. © 2001 Corbis, all rights reserved.)
    Most interesting of all is when one level plays off of another, as in the roller coaster. If the roller coaster is so frightening, why is it so popular? There are at least two reasons. First, some people seem to love fear itself: they enjoy the high arousal and increased adrenaline rush that accompanies danger. The second reason comes from the feelings that follow the ride: the pride in conquering fear and of being able to brag about it to others. In both cases, the visceral angst competes with the reflective pleasure—not always successfully, for many people refuse to go on those rides or, having done it once, refuse to do it again. But this adds to the pleasure of those who do go on the ride: their self image is enhanced because they have dared do an action that others reject.

Focus and Creativity
    The three levels interact with one another, each modulating the others. When activity is initiated from the lowest, visceral levels, it is called “bottom-up.” When the activity comes from the highest, reflective level, it is called “top-down” behavior. These terms come from