How much power some people have, and how little is in the hands of others, is often a difficult topic to discuss – so we regularly ignore the effects of power on thoughts and behaviors. Overlooking relative power robs us of insights that help us achieve design goals.
In the April issue of “Monitor on Psychology,” Weir reviews cognitive science research on how power influences what people do and think. Many of the insights shared are relevant to the design process as well as the final form of spaces and products. Weir reports, for example, that:
>People with power interact with the physical world around themselves differently than those without; they are more likely to feel empowered to change it in some way than people who lack power.
>Not surprisingly, people with power are more upbeat, experiencing more positive emotions than those who aren’t powerful.
>With power comes more willingness to share opinions.
>People who are powerful are less likely to anticipate risks than the powerless.
Moving beyond Weir’s report, it’s clear that relative power needs to be considered during the design process.
Powerful people’s tendency to take charge of their physical world has two design-related implications. First, ways they may potentially act on the world around themselves, such as by opening windows or rearranging furniture, need to be anticipated so the environments they use gracefully permit such actions and don’t ugly up fast. Spaces for the powerful must allow modifications that support comfort and achieving professional goals. Second, since powerful people feel free to modify their environments, they will assume that others do as well and may have difficulty fully understanding how others use and will use spaces available.
Since powerful people are apt to be in better moods, their workplace performance will generally be better in a particular location than people who feel powerless (who are more likely to be in negative moods). Positive moods increase the likelihood that people get along with others and perform well cognitively, for example. This difference in general mood may result in leaders thinking a space supports professional performance when rank and file employees do not believe it does, for example.
Powerful people have a big role to play in any design project, but the mental biases of powerful clients, as outlined by Weir, make it more difficult for designers to create spaces that support an entire organization, not just the executive team. Conducting rigorous, respect-generating research and presenting the resulting insights and findings to management teams can help designers support all workers – which makes it more likely that desired employee performance goals are met. Simply knowing what biases are in place can help overcome them.
Kirsten Weir. 2017. “Power Play.” Monitor on Psychology, vol. 48, no. 4, pp. 40-44.Sally Augustin, PhD, a cognitive scientist, is the editor of Research Design Connections (www.researchdesignconnections.com), a monthly subscription newsletter and free daily blog, where recent and classic research in the social, design, and physical sciences that can inform designers’ work are presented in straightforward language. Readers learn about the latest research findings immediately, before they’re available elsewhere. Sally, who is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, is also the author of Place Advantage: Applied Psychology for Interior Architecture (Wiley, 2009) and, with Cindy Coleman, The Designer’s Guide to Doing Research: Applying Knowledge to Inform Design (Wiley, 2012). She is a principal at Design With Science (www.designwithscience.com) and can be reached at sallyaugustin@designwithscience.com.