Peter Flaschner - Passion FTW!

Passion FTW!
Peter Flaschner @ﬂashlight
March 23, 2009

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

What is passion?


Is it this?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/73823441@N00/169622936/


Is it this?



Passion is a force.



Passion is energy.



Passion is hard to define.


wiktionary

passion
1. Any great, powerful emotion, especially love or hate.
2. fervor, determination.
3. An object of passionate love or strong interest.
It started as a hobby, but now my motorbike collection has become my passion.

4. (Christianity) The suffering of Jesus leading up to and during his crucifixion.
5. A play, musical composition or display meant to commemorate the suffering of Jesus.


wiktionary

passion

emotion fervor determination

1. A person's internal state of being and 1. (US) An intense, heated emotion; passion,
involuntary, subjective, physiological response ardor. 1. The act of determining, or the state of being
to an object or a situation, based in or tied to 2. (US) A passionate enthusiasm for some cause. determined.
physical state and sensory feelings. 3. (US) Heat. 2. Bringing to an end; termination; limit.
2. A reaction by an non-human organism with 3. Direction or tendency to a certain end;
behavioral and physiological elements similar impulsion.
to a person's response. 4. The quality of mind which reaches definite
conclusions; decision of character;
resoluteness.
5. (countable) The state of decision; a judicial
decision, or ending of controversy.
6. (countable) That which is determined upon;
result of deliberation; purpose; conclusion
formed; fixed resolution.
7. A flow, rush, or tendency to a particular part;
as, a determination of blood to the head.
8. (countable) The act, process, or result of any
accurate measurement, as of length, volume,
weight, intensity, etc.; as, the determination of
the ohm or of the wave length of light; the
determination of the salt in sea water, or the
oxygen in the air.
9. The act of defining a concept or notion by
giving its essential constituents.
10. The addition of a differentia to a concept or
notion, thus limiting its extent; -- the opposite
of generalization.
11. The act of determining the relations of an
object, as regards genus and species; the
referring of minerals, plants, or animals, to the
species to which they belong; classification; as,
I am indebted to a friend for the determination
of most of these shells.


Passion is slippery.
It’s hard to define.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/68845396@N00/89593428/ Malingering


passion
1. Any great, powerful emotion, especially love or hate.
2. fervor, determination.
3. An object of passionate love or strong interest.
It started as a hobby, but now my motorbike collection has become my passion.

4. (Christianity) The suffering of Jesus leading up to and during his crucifixion.
5. A play, musical composition or display meant to commemorate the suffering of Jesus.


Robert J. Vallerand, professor of Psychology at
Université de Montreal
Past president of the Canadian Psychological Association
Runs the Research Laboratory on Social Behavior at Université de Montreal
Written over 200 articles, many books, yadda yadda
http://www.er.uqam.ca/nobel/r26710/LRCS/default_en.htm


Dualistic Model of Passion
for activities


Where activity refers to
something we choose to do.

fight for a cause
lose 20 pounds
collect stamps


Harmonious Obsessive
Passion Passion


Harmonious
Passion
People with a harmonious passion
have been found to experience
positive emotions such as happiness
both during and after engagement
in the passionate activity, as well as
a better concentration, feelings of
being fully absorbed during activity
engagement, and report higher
levels of well-being .
Eric G. Donahue
Mars 2009, Le Panoptique
http://www.lepanoptique.com/dev/page-article.php?
id=142&theme=sciences&PHPSESSID=a4a95af0376599f177f36d72
20433622



Obsessive Passion
Those individuals feel like they cannot help
but to engage in the activity they love due to
the internal forces that control them.
Eventually, the passionate activity takes
disproportionate importance and interferes
with other aspects and activities of the
person’s life. As a consequence, obsessive
passion has been related to negative
emotions (e.g., anxiety, shame) and feelings of
guilt, poor concentration, rumination (i.e.,
difficulty stopping thinking about the activity),
and rigid task engagement.
Eric G. Donahue
Mars 2009, Le Panoptique
http://www.lepanoptique.com/dev/page-article.php?
id=142&theme=sciences&PHPSESSID=a4a95af0376599f177f36d7220433622



Passion can
develop in two
directions

Harmonious Obsessive
Passion Passion


Good Evil
stamp stamp
collector collector


So...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tonivc/2363758336/in/set-72157603742415116/


Why is harmonious passion important?


Because it can
make us better
communicators.


Because it can
make us happy.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/42921300@N00/264814182/ Felix42 contra la censura


Because the world is fucked.

kevindooley http://www.flickr.com/photos/12836528@N00/2808632690/

Harmonious passion as saviour, part 1
The Motivator



What’s led us to this?


Human behaviour.



Changing
behaviour is
hard.


Need strong, consistent internal drive.



We need
motivation
that can
withstand
setbacks.

the driver of this car had just
walked away to get gas when a
tractor trailer ran over it...



If we just look at
motivation, we’re not
looking deep enough.



Motivation
grows out
of passion.

(not exclusively)



There is a certain QUALITY to motivation
that arises from harmonious passion



The problems we face are really big.



We need to think about how
to develop our passion for
solving the problems, so that
we can have the motivation
to do the hard work.



Passion can be an important tool
in helping us out of this mess.


Passion as saviour, part 2
The happiness factor



(this is just a hunch.)


(Happiness as well-being, not pleasure)


Happy people do less harm.


Happy people leave
a gentler mark.



Happy people spread happiness.


Research has identified a number of correlates with
happiness. These include religious involvement,
parenthood, marital status, age, income and
proximity to other happy people.
– http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happiness


“Passion can fuel motivation, enhance well-being,
and provide meaning in everyday life.”
Éric Donahue, Research Laboratory on Social Behavior, Université de Montreal


Passion can lead to happiness.



Deep breath.


So what does this have to do with any of us?


It affects
this
particular
group in
two ways:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/txanoduna/477985347/sizes/o/ Txanoduna


It affects us personally.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7346219@N03/2464804268/ GirLy GirL


I want to be happy.


I want my friends and family to be happy.


I want to be
around happy
people.

So it’s in my best
interest to
understand how
harmonious
passion can lead
to happiness so
that I can
generate it and
feed it to you.


What’s more, it’s in my interest for my
friends and family to understand
harmonious passion so you can
generate it and feed it to me.

It affects us
professionally.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/23356961@N00/4830305/ julieta masina


As designers and web geeks,
we have a lot of power.


We are enablers for other people’s passions.


We build websites and tools for our clients,
often so that they can pursue their passion.


We provide the means and
expertise for people to
exercise their passions


This is true for our clients
and our clients’ audience.



This is really
important, and
usually overlooked.


It means the
impact of our
work is
exponential

http://www.flickr.com/photos/80122196@N00/4557105/ GustavoG


We have a tremendous
opportunity. If we accept that

a) harmonious passion can
help improve lives, and

b) harmonious passion can be
developed

then we have to accept that
we can make a big difference.


Time to get
practical:
Let’s look at
how passion
develops



Obsessive
Harmonious
Passion
Passion


2007 Presidential Address to the Canadian
Psychological Association

On the Psychology of Passion: In
Search of What Makes
People’s Lives Most Worth Living

On the development of passion

http://www.er.uqam.ca/nobel/r26710/LRCS/papers/vallerandcp2008.pdf


Three processes are
hypothesised to influence the
development of passion
toward an activity:
activity selection,
activity valuation,
and the type of internalisation
of the activity representation in
one’s identity.


This is deep stuff.


Three processes are hypothesised
to influence the development of
passion toward an activity:
activity selection,
activity valuation,
and the type of internalisation of
the activity representation in one’s
identity.


Activity selection is simply
what do I choose to do.

Visit a site, make a purchase,
play a game, join a social
network, etc.


As designers, how we present activity
options has an impact.

Can the user find the right activity?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/14468301@N06/2150870925/ Spiritless Visionary


activity valuation is the
subjective importance given
to the activity by the person


Context is critical to activity valuation.


Research has indeed shown
that when the object of
interest is highly valued and
meaningful, one is inclined
to internalise the valued
object, to make it part of
him or herself.


As it relates to
design and
strategy, we need
to be aware that if
we give an
important element
low valuation in it’s
presentation, it
may affect how
our users
internalize their
experience.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/46425925@N00/179019989/ Pulpolux !!!


Three processes are hypothesised
to influence the development of
passion toward an activity:
activity selection,
activity valuation,
and the type of internalisation of
the activity representation in
one’s identity.


Two types of internalization:

Autonomous Controlled


An individual, of his or her
own volition, chooses to
Autonomous pursue a thing for the
pleasure/challenge/
enjoyment of it.


An individual feels internal
Controlled or external pressure to
pursue a thing.


Classic example is
music students.
Those who
autonomously
internalize the activity
of making music tend
to be happier than
those who are
controlled into the
activity.


Here’s the thing:


Nag, and you lose.



If you’re building a site or a tool that
you want your users to be passionate
about, you have to let them
internalize the action of participating
on your site autonomously.


Activity selection
Activity valuation
Type of internalization


In summary


Harmonious
passion can
be a force
for good.



It can improve the quality of your life.



It can improve the quality of your client’s lives.
(which ought to give you some more dough)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/63613245@N00/460583582/ Dalboz17


It can help power us through
some of the behavioural
changes we’re all facing.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/43204851@N00/182910562/ Asten


As designers,
strategists and
web geeks, we
have a lot of
power.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/86891211@N00/72224228/ Matthew Clark Photography & Design


Let’s do something awesome with it.


Passion FTW!
Peter Flaschner @ﬂashlight
March 23, 2009
http://peterﬂaschner.com/passionftw


Peter Flaschner - Passion FTW!

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Peter Flaschner - Passion FTW!