February 2025
Service Design
In Progress! Check back soon!
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I believe in a fundamental principle: “the more you learn, the more you realize there is even more to learn.”
Since UX is a highly interdisciplinary field and demands a moderate to high level of psychological knowledge, I decided to re-read my first psychology textbook. This book in particular is a survey of psychology as a whole - not a specific school of thought or function.
Additionally, this specific textbook is personally nostalgic (in the best way possible) and is written by David Myers - one of the most frequently cited authors on college syllabi for psychology courses.
I will be reading and posting notes from this textbook one chapter at a time - while applying the knowledge directly to UX. Feel free to check them out below!
The prologue discusses the varying approaches to early psychology, the early schools of thought and how psychology has evolved into its modern definition:
“the science of behavior and mental processes.”
Related to UX: UX designers and researchers can be classified as “applied researchers” - those who help organizations to design products, train employees and implement systems.
Chapter 1 outlines research methods, the basics of statistics in research and closes with frequently asked question about psychology: ethics, the ability of lab experiments to replicate daily life, and animal experimentation.
Related to UX: "naturalistic observation," which is a descriptive research method is essentially "contextual inquiry" in UX research. The goal is to observe users in a highly realistic scenario rather than performing an experiment in a lab to learn more about theoretical principles.
Check out my full notes - here.
Chapter 2 outlines the basics of neuroscience, how researchers have mapped the human mind, and opportunities to remedy brain damage and other ailments in the future. Most importantly, David Myers states:
"what is unknown still dwarfs what is known"
Related to UX: Association areas of the brain cannot be easily mapped: this may explain the importance of individualized qualitative research and why some behavior in one individual varies greatly from the behavior of another individual when interacting with technology. When designing for accessibility, we can also make inferences based on research of the brain: deaf or hard-of-hearing individuals often have above-average peripheral vision due to unused areas of the brain being made available for other uses.
Check out my full notes - here.
This was my AP Psychology textbook in high school. This was my first glimpse into how interdisciplinary and interesting research can be. It was also one of my favorite classes I’ve ever taken - taught by one of my favorite teachers of all time (’m pretty biased about the importance of psychology in everyone’s lives).
This textbook is unique: it steers away from purely formal and scientific writing and incorporates sarcasm and humor? There's a lot to love about it. Myers also includes relevant comic strips, highly impactful quotes and no shortage of visuals/imagery to illustrate specific concepts.
More to come!
10/10.
