In Search of the Emotional Design Effect in Programming

A small number of recent studies have suggested that learning is enhanced when the illustrations in instructional materials are designed to appeal to the learners' emotions through the use of color and the personification of key elements. We sought to replicate this emotional design effect in the context of introductory object-oriented programming (OOP). In this preliminary study, a group of freshmen studied a text on objects which was illustrated using anthropomorphic graphics while a control group had access to abstract graphics. We found no significant difference in the groups' scores on a comprehension post-test, but the experimental group spent substantially less time on the task than the control group. Among those participants who had no prior programming experience, the materials inspired by emotional design were perceived as less intelligible and appealing and led to lower self-reported concentration levels. Although this result does not match the pattern of results from earlier studies, it shows that the choice of illustrations in learning materials matters and calls for more research that addresses the limitations of this preliminary study.