Don Norman’s “Emotion and Design: Attractive Things Work Better” connects into psychology, especially how emotions affect our thinking and problem-solving. The reading made me think of affective neuroscience, which looks at how emotions, like being happy or stressed, can change the way we think. It ties into the broaden and build theory, which suggests that positive emotions, like happiness, make us more creative and flexible In our thinking. However negative emotions like anxiety, narrow our focus, which can be helpful for immediate problems but isnt great for creative tasks. He explains how positivity can make us more tolerant of small design flaws. Because positive emotions activate brain areas like the prefrontal cortex. Affective neuroscience explains that while positive emotions broaden our thinking, negative emotions activate survival focused areas like the amygdala, narrowing our focus and making creative tasks more difficult, which makes sense because when we feel good, we’re more patient and less likely to get frustrated, allowing that creative flow to unfold. I also really liked how Norman said aesthetically pleasing designs not only look good but actually make things work better. Since I notice that when my study notes look organized and pretty I understand and memorize them much better.
This connects to the article on Margaret Hamilton too, where her ability to stay calm under pressure helped her solve those Apollo 11 software issues. Just like how Norman argues that positive emotions improve performance, her emotional state played a huge role in how she handled the stress. Both readings show that emotions, whether it is about dealing with stress or how a design makes us feel, directly affect how well we can perform on tasks. I find It interesting how much emotions actually affect and impact us.