Designing Technology to Foster Wellbeing - CHI2016 Course

1
How to design for wellbeing
A practical introduction to positive computing
Rafael A. Calvo & Dorian Peters
Faculty of Engineering and IT
The University of Sydney
PositiveComputing.org
Tweeting?
#PositiveComputing
@Rafael_A_Calvo
@Dorian_Peters

Uninvited guests
See Video Uninvited Guests at:
http://www.superflux.in/work/uninvited-guests

Were the devices good for his
wellbeing?
What happens when technologies
(even those intended to improve physical
wellbeing) don’t take into account
psychological wellbeing?
Rafael Calvo & Dorian Peters, PositiveComputing.org

Today…
• Positive computing: what, why and how?
• Activity 1: Analyse technology scenarios for impact on
wellbeing
• Designing for Wellbeing – frameworks & approaches
Break
• Activity 2: Brainstorm design solutions for wellbeing problems
• Discussion: Share strategies
• Measuring Wellbeing – Tools and methods
• Wrap-up: The future of wellbeing technology

Positive Computing
What, why and how?

Technology should be designed
to support psychological
wellbeing
POSITIVE COMPUTING
The research and
development
of technology to support
wellbeing and human
potential

• HCI & UX
• Human-Centered Design
• Values-Sensitive Design
• Emotional design
• Architecture
• HCI
• Affective computing
• Personal informatics
• Persuasive technologies
• Attentive technologies
COMPUTINGPSYCHOLOGY & BRAIN SCIENCE
DESIGN
• Positive psychology
• Subjective Wellbeing
• Psychiatry
• Neuroscience
• Behavioral Economics
• Personal development
• Learning technologies
• Media Studies
• Social Work
EDUCATION & SOCIAL SCIENCES
Research Foundations
Many areas can contribute to our understanding of wellbeing
and how to apply it to technology.

Speed-dating with key
psychological theories
MODELS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL WELLBEING
1. Clinical DSM Global Assessment of Functioning (e.g. CES-D < 16)
2. Positive Psychology (e.g. Fredrickson, Seligman, Lyubimorski,
Huppert, etc. )
3. Socio-emotional intelligence (e.g. Salovey, Mayer & Caruso)
4. Self-determination Theory (Ryan & Deci)
5. Subjective well-being (e.g. Diener, Kahneman)
6. Neuroscience and Physiology (e.g., Panksepp, Davidson)

Theories frequently identify
determinant factors
Determinant factors of Wellbeing
Autonomy, connectedness, competence (Deci)
Autonomy, Personal Growth, Environmental Mastery, Positive
Relations, Purpose in life, Self-acceptance (Ryff)
Mindfulness (Davidson),
Flow (Cziksentmihaly),
Compassion (Gilbert)

Autonomy
Competence
Relatedness
Positive Emotions
Grit
Gratitude
Self-awareness
Kindness
Engagement
Flow
Meaning
Mindfulness
Empathy
Compassion
Self-compassion
Altruism
Designing to Support
Determinant factors

Integrating Wellbeing into
Software Design
Types of positive computing technologies
A - Not positive
computing
Wellbeing & human potential were
not considered in the design of the
technology
B – Preventative
integration
Obstacles or compromises to
wellbeing are treated as errors.
C - Active
integration
Technology is designed to actively
support components of wellbeing
or human potential in an
application that has a different
overall goal
D - Dedicated
integration
A technology that is purpose-built
and dedicated to fostering
wellbeing and/or human potential
in some way.
• Word redesigned to support flow
• Social media redesigned to support
social intelligence
• Positive psychology interventions
• Game for developing empathy
Examples
• Redesign to prevent trolling or
cyberbullying

Superman Experiment
Rosenberg, R. S., Baughman, S. L., & Bailenson, J. N. (2013). Virtual Superheroes: Using
Superpowers in Virtual Reality to Encourage Prosocial Behavior. PloS one, 8(1).
Altruism | Dedicated
Conclusions:
• Superpowers lead to helping behaviors!
• Helping in virtual worlds promotes helping in
the real one.
Implications:
• Give superpowers to the people
• Promote kindness

New Design tradeoffs
• LinkedIn vs. Yammer: Speed vs Psychological benefits?
• Expressing praise or gratitude benefits both parties.
• Rushing endorsements reduces meaning and reflection time.
Kindness, Praise, Gratitude
LinkedIn endorsements Microsoft Yammer praise
| Active

Payroll as a celebration
By tapping into the meaning behind payroll activity,
ZenPayroll taps into intrinsic motivation thus Improving user satisfaction.
Meaning | Active

Facebook Reporting
PRACTICAL: Support conflict
resolution among members.
Reduce number of reports on
images that don’t violate policy.
WELLBEING: Support empathy
and socio-emotional intelligence
skills as a preventative measure
against conflict.
Socio-Emotional skills, Empathy | Preventative

Wellbeing Determinant Cards
RA Calvo, D. Peters. Introduction to Positive Computing – Technology that Fosters Wellbeing. In Extended abstracts of the
ACM conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2015), Courses. Seoul, Korea. April, 2015

Benefits of thinking in
determinants
You can use determinants to…
 Brainstorm ideas
how could we support autonomy?
 Understand problems
Why is user satisfaction post-upgrade so low?
 Detect compromises to wellbeing
how might we be hindering a sense of competence?
 Identify opportunities and successes

Feeling that one has
the power to influence
the outcome of an
experience.

Feeling that one has
sufficient ability or
expertise relevant to
an experience.

Belongingness and
connectedness with
others; good
relationships; secure
relational base.

Feeling that arises in
witnessing another’s
suffering that
motivates a
subsequent desire to
help.

Find a deep sense of
fulfillment by
employing our unique
strengths for a purpose
greater than ourselves.

Taking part in activities
that absorb one
completely; state of
concentrated attention
with loss of self-
consciousness.

Activity 1 – Considering
wellbeing impact
For each scenario write
down ways it may support
or hinder wellbeing.
1 2
Rate against different
wellbeing factors.

Designing for wellbeing
Frameworks, tools and ways of
thinking about the space.

Framework & Tools – Turning research
into practice
RA Calvo, D. Peters. Introduction to Positive Computing – Technology that Fosters Wellbeing. In Extended abstracts of the
ACM conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2015), Courses. Seoul, Korea. April, 2015

Positive Computing Framework
Factor Literature & Theory Strategies
Methods &
Measures
Self
(Intrapersonal)
Positive
Emotions
· Hedonic Psychology
(Kahneman)
· Subjective Wellbeing (Deiner)
· Building & Broadening Effect
(Fredrickson)
· Savouring
· Positive ruminating
· Reframing
· Compassion
meditation
PANAS scales; General
wellbeing measures such
as SWB, SWLS and QoL
scales.
Motivation &
Engagement
· Self-determination Theory
(Ryan & Deci)
· Flow Theory Csikszentmihalyi)
· Intrinsic and extrinsic
rewards
The Motivation and
Engagement Scale; Self-
Regulation
Questionnaires
Self-
awareness
· Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
(Aaron Beck)
· Emotional Intelligence (Mayer
& Salovey)
· Life summary
· Online CBT study
· Technology-
Mediated Reflection
Emotional Intelligence
measures (eg. MSCEIT);
wellbeing measures such
as Life Satisfaction
Mindfulness Mindfulness-based Stress
Reduction (Kabat-Zinn)
Minfulness-based Cognitive
Therapy (Segal, Williams &
Teasdale)
· Mindfulness
meditation
· MBSR strategies
· MBCT strategies
MAAS; Freiburg
Mindfulness Inventory
Resilience psychology of resilience
(Seligman, Keyes)
Building & Broadening Effect
(Fredrickson)
· Positive psychology
interventions
· SuperBetter
Resilience Scale;
Social
(Interpersonal)
Gratitude Emmons & McCullough
Psychology of Gratitude
· Gratitude visit
· Gratitude journal
Gratitude Questionnaire
Empathy Emotional Intelligence (Salovey &
Mayer; Goleman), Affective and
Cognitive empathy (Gerdes etal;
Singer)
· Role-playing
· Perspective-taking
· Emotion recognition
training
EQ; Interpersonal
Reactivity Index;
Children's Empathic
Attitudes Questionnaire
Transcendent
(Extra-personal)
Compassion Compassion-Focused Therapy
(Paul Gilbert)
· Compassion
Meditation
Self-compassion Scale;
Prosocial Orientation
Scale; Hostile Attribution
Bias QuestionnaireAltruism Batson (empathy-Altruism · Prosocial games
· Role-playing helping
behavior
Wisdom · Psychology of wisdom · 16 principles of Self-assessed Wisdom
Source:Calvo,R.A.,&Peters,D.(2014).Positivecomputing:
Technologyforwellbeingandhumanpotential.MITPress.

Measuring Wellbeing
• Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS). (20 items)
• Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale (WEMWBS) (Tennant
et. Al 2007)
• Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) (5 items)
• UN’s first World Happiness Report (Helliwell, Layard, & Sachs,
2012)
• Gallup-Healthways Well-being Index live daily assessment of
health and wellbeing measures across the U.S.

Multicultural needs:
Need Satisfaction and Subjective Well-
being
Country
(n)
US
(n = 195)
Russia
(n = 159)
Korea
(n = 111)
Turkey
(n = 94)
Basic Need
Satisfaction
.72 .60 .62 .71
From Chirkov, Ryan, Kim and Kaplan, 2003

Spheres of Influence
Adapted from Spheres of Autonomy in: RA Calvo, D. Peters, D. Johnson, Y. Rogers
“Autonomy in Technology Design” CHI ’14
TECHNOLOGY
ENVIRONMENT
ACTIVITY
PERSONAL
DEVELOPMENT
A technology can foster a wellbeing factor at at least three different levels and its
important to tease these apart.

TECHNOLOGY
ENVIRONMENT
A software environment can support a sense of
autonomy or competence when the user feels
in control and capable operating the software.

ACTIVITY
TECHNOLOGY
ENVIRONMENT
A technology can support a sense of autonomy or
competence in relation to the activity it supports – for
example, cycling, managing finances, socializing, etc.

Adapted from Spheres of Autonomy in: RA Calvo, D. Peters, D. Johnson, Y. Rogers “Autonomy
in Technology Design” CHI ’14
TECHNOLOGY
ENVIRONMENT
ACTIVITY
PERSONAL
DEVELOPMENT
Technology can support the development of autonomy or competence in relation to
one’s life and personal development (eg. an app designed to help adolescents with
chronic illness gain independence.)

Motivation & wellbeing in
gamesA self-determination theory approach
4 observational studies on different existing games…
PENS Competence (5 items)
“I felt very capable and effective”
“The game kept me on my toes but did not overwhelm
me.”
PENS Autonomy (5 items)
“I did things in the game because they interested me”
“I felt controlled and pressured to be a certain way”
PENS Intuitive Controls or presence (3 items)
Subjective Vitality (energy and aliveness)
Self-steem (10 items)
Mood rating (9 items) pre and post play
Game enjoyment (4 items)
‘I enjoyed playing the game very much”
and “I thought the game was boring (reversed)”
TECHNOLOGY
ENVIRONMENT
ACTIVITY
Ryan, Richard M., C. Scott Rigby, and Andrew Przybylski. "The motivational pull of video games:
A self-determination theory approach." Motivation and emotion 30.4 (2006)

Conclusions and implications
1. Perceived in-game autonomy and competence are associated with game
enjoyment, preferences, and changes in well-being pre- to post-play.
2. Competence and autonomy related to intuitiveness of game controls, and
the sense of presence or immersion.
3. SDT’s theorized needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness
independently predict enjoyment and future game play
4. Pre- and post- play scores showed that on an absolute level, mood, vitality
and state self-esteem dropped for non-continuers, whereas both mood and
self-esteem rose for those who continued.
Implications:
Design to support competence and autonomy
(through intuitiveness and immersion)

Variable Helping in generala Autonomous motive
for helpingb
Subjective well-being .05* .33**
Vitality .09** .25**
Self-esteem .05 .36**
Need satisfaction .09** .44**
an = 1,724 in analyses using the daily help/no-help variable. bn = 747 in analyses including
daily motivation for help. Help coded 1 for yes, 0 for no.
* p <.05. **p<.01.
Eg. helping in general vs. autonomous helping,
as relates to Need Satisfaction and Well-Being.
Motivation matters
Weinstein & Ryan. (2010). When helping helps: Autonomous motivation for prosocial behavior and its
influence on well-being for the helper and recipient. JPSP.

N=1193
 Bonding scale (5 items)
 UCLA loneliness scale (8 items)
 Facebook Intensity Scale (8 items)
 Self-esteem scale
 Satisfaction with life scale
Conclusions
• Direct communication increases
bonding
• Consumption is correlated with
loneliness and reduced social capital
Implications
• Design to promote directed communication rather than just consumption
Facebook activities and
wellbeingDirected communication vs. consumption
Burke, Moira, Cameron Marlow, and Thomas Lento. "Social network activity and social well-being.
“Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on human factors in computing systems. ACM, 2010.

Methods in Positive Computing
Examples of Observational, experimental
and quasi-experimental designs

Observational Studies
Facebook data over 2 years.
People happier on holidays
and sunny days.
Happiness spreads:
• 1 positive post decreases 1.80
negative posts in friends
• 1 negative post decreases 1.26
positive
Implication: Australia should export sunshine, frequent holidays and general
positivity via Facebook.
Observing how an activity (writing) influences the wellbeing of
others.
Detecting Emotional Contagion in Massive Social Networks. Coviello, Lorenzo, et al. PloS one 9.3 (2014)

Experimental studies
N = 689,003
“Emotional states can be transferred to others
via emotional contagion, leading people to experience the same
emotions without their awareness.”
2 conditions:
Positivity reduced => fewer positive posts and more negative posts;
Negativity reduced => Fewer Negative and more positive
Evaluation of Facebook newsfeed filters
Kramer, A, J.E. Guillory, and J.T. Hancock. "Experimental evidence of massive-scale emotional contagion
through social networks. "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2014)

Quasi-experimental studies
Wellbeing scales
 Subjective Happiness Scale: 4 item survey that assesses happiness of self, and self relative to others.
 Satisfaction with Life Scale: 5 item survey that assesses overall life satisfaction.
 Psychological General Well-Being Index: 22 item survey that measures self-representations of
affective and emotional states.
 Mindfulness Attention Awareness Scale: 15 item survey that measures attentiveness to what is
occurring in the present
Linguistic Analysis
 Used LIWC to examine how the language used in posts correlated with responses to specific well-
being scales.
 Hand-coded selected posts to rate emotional depth to better understand results.
Echo – Technology mediated reflection
Isaacs, E., Konrad, A., Walendowski, A., Lennig, T., Hollis, V., & Whittaker, S. (2013, April). Echoes from the
past: how technology mediated reflection improves well-being. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on
Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1071-1080). ACM. Chicago
N=44

Activity 2 – Design Strategies
Find 4 other
people with the
same sheets as
you.
1 2
Combine all the ways your
scenarios could hinder
wellbeing. Devise a design
solution for each.

Group discussion
Combine all the ways your
scenarios could hinder
wellbeing. Devise a design
solution for each.

Project Goal Layers
Wellbeing goals & challenges
eg. support autonomy
Practical goals & challenges
eg. allow user to connect with friends online, reduce help center
inquiries
Technical goals & challenges
eg. manage a large database, privacy, security, scalability

AsthmaZen
Goal-setting for Adolescents with Asthma
In Partnership with: Charles Perkins Centre | Asthma Australia

Asthma Zen
+Autonomy, +competence
Determinants helped us interpret and structure user research
outcomes.Keys issues: anxiety caused by feeling out of control of ones health and not
competent to deal with emergencies; a sense of being disconnected socially.

Asthma Zen Supporting behavior change
+ Provide opportunity to reflect on
and record their intrinsic motivations
for self-care
+ Support asthma-related goal
setting.
Supporting relatedness
+ Make salient belongingness to
larger community
+ Provide place to upload images
of those who support them
Supporting Autonomy +
competence
+ Provide easy access to emergency
help and guidance.
+ Provide information, strategies and tips
for better asthma control
+ Support goal-setting to increase
chances of success
L. Smith, J. Foster, D. Peters, S. Sawyer, RA Calvo, S Davis. Development of a tailored goal-setting self-
management app for young people with asthma. TSANZSRS Annual Scientific Meeting 2016 Perth, 1 – 6
April 2016.

Moderator Assistant +
Cybermate
Helping those who help others online
In Partnership with: ReachOut.com

Helping those who help others
Competence, Resilience
Moderator Assistant
Triage & support system for
mental health forum moderators.
In Partnership with:
CyberMate
Mental health support
chat environment
Supporting resilience + compassion
+ Provide feedback demonstrating number
of young people they have helped.
Supporting relatedness + competence
+ Provide ability to consult with each other
and more experienced moderators live
online to share experience and
responsibility.
Supporting competence
+ Provide way to call in more experienced
moderator for difficult cases.
+ Provide easy access to resources relevant
to their task

Moderator Assistant
Liu, Calvo, Davenport, Hickie “Moderator Assistant: helping those who help via online mental health support groups”.
Social Technologies for Health and Wellbeing’ workshop at OzChi 2013.

Moderator Assistant -
Measures
1 I get to make my own plan.
2 I can vary how I do my work.
3 I don't have to check with anyone else when
I think I've properly resolved a post
4 I'm free to decide which posts to resolve
when (Hilol and Venkatesh, 2013)
Self-reports
Behavioral
• Changes in use patterns?
• Variation in use patterns according to time, etc?
Assigning a task
Measures of Autonomy

Measures
Gagné, Marylene. "The role of autonomy support and
autonomy orientation in prosocial behavior engagement."
Motivation and Emotion 27.3 (2003): 199-223.
Behavioral measures
• Number of conversations/threads per end-user?
• Time spent in socializing?
Questionnaire
Measures of Relatedness

Measures
Adapted from Perceived Competence Scale Williams and
Deci (1996)
Behavioral measures
• Inter-rater agreement? (changes in labeling)
• Time spent in responding/editing?
Questionnaire
Measures of Competence

Well@Work
Wellbeing in male dominated workplaces
With funding from: beyondblue, Movember Foundation
+

Well@Work -
Wellbeing in male dominated workplaces
+Resilience, +Self-awareness, +competence,
Psychologists want..
Risk assessment tool
What would audience be
willing to engage with/find
useful?
We suspected solution would
include…
Self-awareness
and possibly…
Compassion
(based on motivation for emergency
work)
Funded by:

User Workshops with
60 Firefighters,
urban, suburban
and rural.

MOOD FIX
Mood boost
Helps to reset your mind
Helping put your mind in a
better place for your family
Trying to get yourself back
into a happy place
A visual light-hearted
scenario to quickly shift
focus of mind into higher
states of consciousness
change of focus
You could have an alarm feature
that notifies your crew: “Steve’s
having a bad day” so they know
to bring you coffee.
Stress button
In their words…
Immediate options to “reset your
mind”.

MOOD TRACKER
A way to track moods, and their causes, over time.
How you’re feeling, what your sleep’s like and you
can track that.
I’m having a great day cause this happened or, I’m having a shit day
cause this happened.
How you feel… I wouldn’t do it once a day, I’d probably only do
it if I felt shit.
“
”

Mood tracker
Learn
Track Mood
Take 5
Assess + Train
From needs to tech
functionalities

Mood tracker
Learn
Track Mood
Take 5
Assess + Train
From needs to tech
functionalities
Self-awareness
Better recognize their emotions, spot
patterns, causes
Competence
More confidence in handling
psychological situations that arise in
themselves and others (friends, family,
members of public)
Autonomy + Resilience
Ability to take control of one’s mental
fitness in the way one can take control
of physical fitness. (Promotion /
Prevention)
Ability to take action and influence the
situation when problems arise.

First product: Mindgauge
Testing Mood & activity tracking IXD + various forms of feedback
Download at:
MindGauge.org.au

Takeaways
1. There are psychological factors known to increase
wellbeing.
2. We can use these factors to inform and enhance
the design of technologies.
3. There are research-based methods, measures,
frameworks, and tools to support work in this area.
4. This is a multidisciplinary effort – psychologists,
social scientists and technologists need to work
together in order to be successful.

Thank you.
PositiveComputing.org
@Rafael_A_Calvo @Dorian_Peters

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