In Assignment 2 I talked about how economic conditions can effect design. I came up with a few ideas; money problems, psychological factors etc, but for assignment 3 I have decided to look at the topic of psychological factors in more detail.
Cross search has not been my friend so far. The whole concept has been very difficult for me, a self confessed computer-phobic, but I think I have got the hang of it. I wasn't able to find any books or journals relating to psychological factors and design specifically (although I have the sneaking suspicion that there will be loads and I'm just not looking in the right place) but nevertheless I have found some what seem to be interesting and informative books and journals on psychology and stress in particular, which can easily be related to designers at work.
Bibliography
- Feldman, Robert S. (1997) Essentials of Understanding Psychology, McGraw-Hill
This book is simply about understanding human psychology. It looks at the symptoms, causes and outcomes of different psychological problems and how they can or cannot be cured. I focused on Chapter 9 - Motivation and Emotion, as it had some interesting facts about stress and how it can effect a persons quality of life. At one point it gives you an example of how a person can be under stress, using a volunteer at her work and monitoring her heart rate and blood pressure at different points during the day, then comparing them to someone who has instead been enjoying a leisurely day. The results are very interesting, yet it is a little frightening to see how dramatically a persons health can change when faced with what seem to be tiny stresses.
- Gilbert, Daniel T., Schacter, Daniel L., & Wegner, Daniel M. (2009) Psychology, Worth
This book is more about the science of the mind. More than half of the book is about understanding how it is that the brain works by referencing known facts, experiments and even philosophical sayings. It devotes a whole chapter to Stress and Health, even drawing up an experimental table which names different events, such as financial difficulties or peer pressures, then rates on a scale from 1 to 100 how stressful they are (apparently having two exams in one day has a stress rating of 80 - oh dear).
- Hicks, James W. (2005) 50 Signs of Mental Illness, Yale University Press/New Haven and London
This book looks at psychiatric symptoms, what they can mean and how to deal with them. It has separate, very detailed chapters each devoted to a single 'mental illness', such as Delusions, Paranoia and of course Stress. Self-described as a book of 'reassurance', it provides advice on whether you or a loved one are suffering from any of these illnesses and whether you should seek help. Although it is generally a self-help book, it gives some interesting facts about mental problems in general, such as 'Life slows down during depression... You walk slowly. You eat slowly. You speak slowly.'
- Mental Health Forum, http://www.mentalhealthforum.net/
This website is for general use, it offers discussion forums, question and answer pages and a list of numbers which can be contacted for those who wish to seek help with their problem privately. I found the stress discussion forum particularly interesting because although the opinions shared may not be correct, it was fascinating to read about different peoples experiences with stress. One lady had written about how she had recently been made redundant from her job and is now on benefits. She spoke about how ashamed she felt to be claiming benefits for the first time, and her struggle to find a new job was becoming a heavy burden. When she was diagnosed with severe stress she said she felt helpless and pathetic. I found that hearing about a sufferers feelings was very insightful.
This website has some interesting links and articles about different types of stress. I found an article which I found particularly interesting as it was all about Post-Dramatic Stress Disorder (PDST), a condition that many soldiers suffer during their time in the army and afterwards. The soldiers were basically traumatised by what they had seen in war, and it affected them mentally. The article explains the origins of PDST, how it affects people, why it affects people and who it is most likely to come to.
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