Challenges of Designing HCI for Negative Emotions
It identifies a gap in HCI for supporting negative emotions, which is incremental as it builds on psychology insights but applies them to technology design.
The paper addresses the lack of HCI research on designing technology to support negative emotions, highlighting the delicate balance between beneficial and harmful interactions as technology becomes more social and emotional.
Emotions that are perceived as "negative" are inherent in the human experience. Yet not much work in the field of HCI has looked into the role of these emotions in interaction with technology. As technology is becoming more social, personal and emotional by mediating our relationships and generating new social entities (such as conversational agents and robots), it is valuable to consider how it can support people's negative emotions and behaviors. Research in Psychology shows that interacting with negative emotions correctly can benefit well-being, yet the boundary between helpful and harmful is delicate. This workshop paper looks at the opportunities of designing for negative affect, and the challenge of "causing no harm" that arises in an attempt to do so.