Earlier today we sat in on a lecture on design and emotion held by Dr. Sylvia Tzvetanova Yung.

The lecture highlighted areas of psychology that can be used to inform design, explaining that positive emotions increase motivation.

we were introduced to the concept of basic emotion which after some research into this is still up for debate as to what emotions are considered basic. the basic emotions are:

Negative
Distress
Fear
Boredom
Unsatisfied

Positive
Joy
Confidence
Fascination
Satisfaction

Dr. Tzvetanova Yung went on to explain emotional structures and how they can effect design. below is a table showing the causes and effects emotions

The information covered in the lecture can be applied to any area of design because we as designers create products that we hope the user responds to in a positive manor, and knowing the proceses involved in the emotion process can be benifical to understand.

In regards to a list of basic emotion Robert Plutchik created a wheel of emotions in 1980 it is made up of 8 basic emotions and then expands upon them with multiple tiers of advanced emotion.

 

The above image was created by Machine Elf 1735 and is available in the public domain.