The Four Types of Pleasure

The Four Types of Pleasure is a framework to classify pleasure devised by Canadian anthropologist Lionel Tiger. Tiger identified four distinct types of pleasure; physical, social, psychological and ideological. This framework has been used in product and user-interface design.

The four types of pleasure
Physical
Physical pleasure is derived from the sensory organs, examples might include the tactile feel of a phone handset or a new car smell.
Social
Social pleasure comes from the social interaction that a product causes or stimulates, like chat around a water cooler or comments attracted by new jewellery or a new device.
Psychological
Psychological pleasure is generated by cognitive and emotional reactions. An example might be software that enables the user to accomplish tasks more simply or more accurately than previously.
Ideological
Ideological pleasure pertains to people's values. Products that are manufactured using environmentally-friendly processes would give pleasure to a user whose ideology placed a high value on ideological issues.

Further reading
Frascara, Jorge: "Design and the Social Sciences: Making Connections". CRC Press, 2002.
Jordan, Patrick W.: "Designing Pleasurable Products: An Introduction to the New Human Factors". CRC Press, 2002.
 
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