Psychology of performance

Psychology of performance Stoyan Stefanov, @stoyanstefanov June 23, 2010 Velocity

Perception

Durations actual expected perceived rem’d time

Time perception •  UCLA – 53s -> 67s -> 91s (dopamine) •  Age •  Geography - NY vs. LA •  Culture, climate •  Time of day, day the week •  Body temperature

Time perception •  Clock is usually faster •  Long durations are harder to judge

When the time stops •  Athletes •  Martial arts

Remembered time •  Emotional state •  Pleasant vs. painful memories •  “hit vs. smash” speed – 34/40.5 mph

Unpleasant memories •  34sec fake assault on campus -> 81 sec (~250% off) •  30 sec bank robbery video -> 2 day later.. -> 150 sec (500% off) -> - 50% diff

Temporal illusions •  Kappa effect time 1 = time 2 Longer part of a journey feels slower

It feels slower when… •  Unpleasant •  Unknown •  Boring •  Too much to keep track •  Never ever put too many •  Bullets points •  On a slide •  Never •  Harder to parse

Study of frustrations •  University of Maryland •  Slow worse than pop ups •  1/3 to ½ the time lost in frustrations •  Frustrations affect all else

Effect of waiting •  Irritation •  Stress •  High cholesterol •  ☠

Feels faster when… •  Task is successful •  Responsive system •  Progress •  Informed

Expectations Maister’s first law of service: Service = Perception - Expectation

Expectations •  Brand name •  Pre-existing bias

Managing expectations •  Provide feedback •  Wait with a warning is shorter

Flow Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: “Positive state of consciousness… We lose sense of self and time distorts”

Flow •  Learning through failure •  Doing is the reward

Some numbers

PARC research •  0.1s – instantaneous •  1s – flow •  10s – attention

A framework •  0.1 - 0.2s – instantaneous •  0.5 - 1s – immediate •  2 - 5s – flow •  7 - 10s – captivity - conversation

RTT – response time test •  190ms college students •  Slower when go/no-go •  Correlation to IQ

Blink of an eye •  0.3 - 0.4s

Turning a page Two attempts 1 minute each: •  Kid A – 31, 27 •  Kid B – 39, 38 •  Dad – 44, 43 1.3 – 2.2 seconds a page

Progressive rendering Chunk #1 Chunk #2 Chunk #3

Worst enemy? CSS

Progress indication •  We learn the hints •  Status bar, page title •  What we hate to see:

Too many indicators

Progress indication •  Progress is good, not ugly •  Flicker-free rendering?

Progress indication •  Immediate responses don’t require indicator •  Lazy drop-downs? •  TMI: 4-5 words a second •  Wording: “Please wait”, “Stand by” vs. “Saving…”

Prefetch •  Components •  DNS •  favicon

Keep the flow •  “Idiot” box •  Back, undo •  No uncertainty •  Responsive to commands

Intuitions lie •  Are you a user? •  Surprising expectations •  “Where’s the rest” •  Paging

Colors and time •  White feels faster •  But higher expectations

Help remembered durations •  Negate effects of waits •  Show benefits •  WIIFM

Help remembered durations •  Reporting time?

Long-running tasks •  WebWorkers, setTimeout •  After 10s let people stop or leave and come back •  Don’t report elapsed time

First time experience •  Unfamiliar = slow •  Optimize empty cache or there will be no full cache

Too fast •  Edit-in-place •  Yellow fades

Distractimations

Good/bad animations •  Short and sweet •  Transitions – nothing pops in life •  Easing animations

Thank you! Stoyan Stefanov @stoyanstefanov http://www.phpied.com

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Psychology of performance

by Stoyan Stefanov

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