Psychology & social behavior affecting interaction design

In this meetup we will explore how psychology theory helps to understand online user behavior, and consequently, the decisions that designers should make when shaping digital and social experiences.

First talk:

Attention and emotional manipulation in social interfaces / Jordan Lewinski

Jordan Lewinski will talk about human emotions triggered during an interaction with a social network. He will share how UX designers and entrepreneurs should better understand the psychological drivers behind the human behavior in the digital world, in order to ignite within participants an imminently important human emotion: satisfaction. He will exemplify how some of the most successful social networks rely heavily on human emotions to enhance their appeal and increase usage. Jordan will explore the usage of conscious and unconscious desires in social services, and other psychological and neurological phenomena that drive users online behavior.

Jordan Lewinski is a senior psychiatrist at the Tel Hashomer Hospital, and is the manager of resolution center ( http://www.resolution.co.il ) , specializing in private treatments via focused and innovative approaches. Previously, he headed research groups in digital media companies such as Israel Online and Zoe Interactive.

Second talk:

Getting Intimate with Invisible Audiences / Mushon Zer-Aviv

Mushon Zer Aviv will speak about invisible audiences and how they affect sharing patterns and user experience in networked spaces (both online and off). It is really hard for us to imagine how our data is exposed to invisible audiences, which is both good and bad news for interaction design. At the end of the day, these invisible audiences drive the success and failures of social life – both on the web and outside it. Before we rush to design applications that automatically expose the private and public lives of the app users, we should consider this radical cultural shift. Mushon will share design lessons learned from a recent ambiguous website and an old ambiguous book.

Mushon Zer Aviv is an interaction designer and Co-founder of Shual.com & ShiftSpace.org. He graduated from Bezalel Academy of Art and Design and was Design Professor at Shenkar and Adjunct Professor NYU.