We Feel, Then We Think
Emotions are written into our DNA. They influence us in powerful ways driving the evolution of a complex nervous system. Fear keeps us vigilant, happiness confirms our actions and love keeps us alive.
20 years ago we’d never heard of Smart phones or Tablets; there was no Facebook or Google. But we’ve always had emotions.
Emotions are often seen as something to be overcome. Fear weakens us, love clouds good decision-making and happiness stops us from excelling. This mindset is flawed, emotions are at the center of everything we do.
No matter how sophisticated and technologically-advanced we become, we will always be driven by emotion. As evolutionary psychologists say, “Our modern skulls house a Stone Age brain.
Patrick Fagan, Behavioural Scientist
When we use logic to process emotions, it’s like asking a five year old to vote on a trade agreement. You end up undecided and making ill-informed decisions on something that should simply be driven by intuition. To be aware of emotions is to understand ourselves and others.
Cognition attempts to make sense of the world: emotion assigns value.
Donald A. Norman, Design of Everyday Things
By tracking emotional engagement towards media in partnership with BBC Worldwide, we found a disconnect between what we say and how we feel.
Despite claiming to dislike a show, the viewers did so smiling – 81% of the test audience said that they disliked the show, yet 82% showed high emotional engagement. When it was broadcast, it beat prime-time average viewing by 67% and slot average by 104% in market, highlighting the disconnect between what people say compared to what they do.
Element Human is creating a technology infrastructure that extends humanity, not simply logic. A future that is shaped by human emotion and logic working together. In this future we can create technology that cares.
Simply, we feel the Tinman must have a heart.
