Week Five: MOOD and INTERACTION

Okay! Hello again!
I've been doing quite a bit of research on mood and its influence on interaction lately. This has all stemmed from a little off-shoot idea that I had in class the other day, and its been super interesting to research so far. Attached are a few links to some peer reviewed journals found on the psychinfo database. They were a very interesting read:

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/doi/10.1002/ejsp.725/pdf

http://www.sciencedirect.com.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/science?_ob=MImg&_imagekey=B6W5N-4WYCT4T-1-3&_cdi=6575&_user=62921&_pii=S1048984309001489&_origin=gateway&_coverDate=10%2F31%2F2009&_sk=999799994&view=c&wchp=dGLzVlb-zSkWb&md5=e4e465e190e4e26e0151f2863a85ae13&ie=/sdarticle.pdf

http://web.ebscohost.com.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=4&hid=113&sid=74099bda-6aa2-4d65-a168-d83dc403f79a%40sessionmgr110

I made a few conclusions:
1.  An individuals repsonse to a situation is highly dependant on an individuals mood
2. Many interactive relationships could be improved if people were more aware of eachothers moods
3. How you approach someone is dramatically different depending if someone is in a 'good mood' vs. a 'bad mood'
4. It is extremely difficult for someone else to define someone elses mood
SO! I was thinking, it would be awesome to create a product that enhanced this and captured peoples moods.
Originally I was thinking about some kind of object that could sit on someones desk with different lights representing different moods (something like this:)

But then I started thinking about portability and actually being able to take it into your personal life, as well as your professional life. Thats when I thought about the MOOD HELMET.   What a sweet idea! So many relationships could be saved by this device- think how much easier life would be if you were just more aware of somebody elses mood. I'll definetely play around with this idea, and give making some kind of model a go.

I've also been doing other research on how to represent the different types of moods. I instantly think of traffic lights:

The colours (obviously representing):
Green: Go ahead, talk to me
Yellow: Caution, approach with caution
Red: Beware, please leave me alone!

I've also explored into mood rings too, as they depict a mood based upon a colour:

Looking into a bit more research of how exactly the mood ring works, it was super interesting! these things were HUGE in the 70s! The 'stone' of a mood ring is generally made from a hollow quarts or glass shell containing thermotropic liquid crystals. However modern mood jewlery (like shown above) is made from a flat strip of liquid curtals with a protective coating. The crystals repsond to changes in temperature by twisting. The twisting changes their molecular structure, which alters the wavelengths of light (colour) that are absorbed or reflected. They don't have complete accuracy, but they do give an overall indication of how an individual is feeling. This is also correlated to heart rate, as this is a good indication on someones mood.
The colours represent these moods subsequently:
Black: Stressed
Brown: fearful
Yellow: Nervous
Kakhi yellow: Mixed emotions
Green: Normal
Blue: Relaxed
Dark Blue: Calm
Indigo: Cool
Orange: Lovable/happy
Light green: Romantic
Dark Green: Passionate
Royal/Deep Blue: Very happy/excited

I also had a look at other various products that were already out there on the market which depicted/notified someone else of their mood (which were mostly calendars of some kind of sort):

I do want to explore this deeper though. I want to look into sensors of the heart rate which will depict someones mood, and also electromagnetic sensors which was be placed on the head (as this is a helmet, that makes a lot of sense!) Until next time!