Chapter 2
Summary
The second chapter discusses how people blame their inability to make something work on themselves, the environment or some unrelated cause when the real problem is in the design of the object. Norman gives several examples of this including a product that assigns similar functions to similar locations on a keyboard and a situation involving a man with a poorly designed alarm clock. He also describes the seven stages of action: forming the goal, forming the intention, specifying an action, executing the action, perceiving the state of the world, interpreting the state of the world and evaluating the outcome. The bottom line of this chapter is to help people understand that it is not always their fault when they cannot figure out how to work something. The problem is likely in the design.
Discussion
As in the first chapter, the author does a good job of providing the reader with examples for everything he discusses. I thought it was especially interesting how he broke down the stages of action into seven different stages. I also especially liked what he said about how we often blame ourselves when we cannot figure something out: “It is as if they take perverse pride in thinking of themselves as mechanically incompetent.” We all do this from time to time. I enjoyed reading his encouraging angle on it.
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