a Multilayered Model of Product Emotions
Pieter M.A. Desmet
Industrial Design Delft, Delft University of Technology
This paper introduces a theoretical basis for the process that underlies all emotional responses to consumer products. Five distinct classes of product-evoked emotions are discussed, which are each the outcome of a unique pattern of eliciting conditions. The framework for these patterns was drawn from a model that reveals the cognitive basis of product emotions. The main proposition of this model is that all emotional reactions result from an appraisal process in which the individual appraises the product as (potentially) harming or favouring one or several of his or her concerns. In this perspective, the concern and the appraisal are considered key-parameters that determine if a product evokes an emotion, and if so, what emotion is evoked. Because each of the five classes of product emotions (i.e. instrumental, aesthetic, social, surprise, and interest emotions) is discussed in terms of these key-parameters, it can be used to explain the complex and often personal nature of product emotions, and support designers in their efforts to design for emotion.