Response to Chapter 2 DOET

9-13-09
Norman really grabbed my attention in this chapter. I was not only able to relate to what he was explaining but learn more to become a better designer, or even help others to become better designers. Norman explained the difference between learned helplessness and taught helplessness. At first they seemed somewhat similar but after reading over again for better comprehension Norman in fact showed a distinct difference between the two.Learned helplessness is when you fail at something and assume it can not be done because of their failure, whether it be one or several times. Taught helplessness on the other hand, is when someone fails at doing a task but blames themselves, rather that feeling that they have failed.
Norman also grabbed my attention when he talked about the ongoing spiral of silence. This is when a person failed to report a problem with a design. If the majority of people having the same problem do not report it, the designer is not given the chance to find out what is not working well. In return the problem is less likely to be fixed. In a way this helped me to realize i to have to let people know when their is an ongoing problem with a design. A designer has to know what is going wrong in order to correct it. Silence will never correct a problem with a bad design. We must speak about it and let people know in hopes that they can correct it.