THE AESTHETIC OF USER EXPERIENCE: THE ROLE OF AFFECT AND THE IMPACT ON BEHAVIOR

This doctoral thesis contributes to the domain of User Experience (UX), investigated through a psychological lens, emphasizing the role of aesthetics and affect in shaping user behavior. From primitive tools to advanced technologies, human interactions with artifacts have evolved in complexity, encompassing a wide variety of objects and becoming integral parts of both personal and social life. This has been widely explored by several disciplines, including Design, Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Engineering, and Visual Arts. However, to properly address this increasing complexity, we must investigate how these interactions extend beyond functionality to profoundly influence experiential dimensions, including perceptual, emotional, and cognitive aspects. In particular, the role of aesthetics in shaping our interactions with artifacts has yet to be thoroughly explored. To achieve this, the thesis adopts the novel perspective of User Experience Psychology (UXP), which positions psychology as a core discipline in understanding user experiences. By examining the primary psychological processes involved in UX —perceptual/aesthetic, affective, and cognitive—this thesis aims at demonstrating how human interactions with artifacts can potentially represent instances of transformation. Therefore, firstly, the concept of Transformative Experiences (TEs) is introduced. The thesis systematically reviews empirical literature on TEs, particularly those driven by artistic artifacts, and integrates these findings to identify areas for future research and practical application. The aesthetic facet of UX is then analyzed according to the most current psychological perspective of the aesthetic phenomenon, which encompasses affective, cognitive, and behavioral components. Specifically, aesthetic emotions, distinct from other emotional categories, play a crucial role in shaping user interactions and long-term engagement with artifacts. The role of aesthetic in UX is explored through a first empirical study which investigates the relationship between aesthetic preferences and prosocial behavior in response to a specific artifact—architecture. The fourth chapter clarifies the methodological choice of using Virtual Reality (VR) as the ideal medium to present artifacts to users and study aesthetic and affective responses in an ecological setting. VR is increasingly used to design prototypes of artifacts, present them to end-users, and promote new types of aesthetic experience. Supporting this, the second empirical study compares cognitive and affective evaluations of a design artifact, the Graziella bicycle, in both virtual and real environments. Additionally, the third study of this thesis examines how VR, as an immersive technology, can enhance the intensity of aesthetic emotions elicited by several famous paintings. The thesis culminates in a comprehensive theoretical basis that integrates aesthetics, emotions, and technology within UX design, with a focus on the role of space. Space is an integral part of UX, especially as it is increasingly designed through virtual environments to recreate the natural usage contexts of artifacts. Drawing from Environmental Psychology and Visual Design principles, this final chapter provides actionable insights for enhancing aesthetic appreciation and overall user satisfaction in both physical and virtual environments. Results from the last study underscore the importance of creating spaces that foster meaningful, memorable and impactful user experiences. In summary, this doctoral thesis offers an exploration of UX as a psychological – and specifically aesthetic- phenomenon, emphasizing the critical role of affect in shaping these experiences and the transformative potential of user interactions. The theoretical contributions of this work include a potential new conceptual framework, which integrates several psychological theories and models to shed light on the mechanisms through which aesthetic impact affective responses, engagement, behavioral tendencies and overall experience. On the practical side, the thesis provides actionable insights that can inform the design of more engaging and emotionally resonant UX. By highlighting the importance of affect and aesthetics in UX, the thesis encourages further exploration in this field, suggesting new paths for research and development. It also emphasizes the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration, integrating insights from psychology, design, art, technology, and various other fields to create more user-centered and emotionally satisfying interactions.Questa tesi di dottorato contribuisce al dominio della User Experience (UX), investigato attraverso una prospettiva psicologica, enfatizzando il ruolo dell’estetica e dell’affettività nel modellare il comportamento degli utenti. Dai primi strumenti primitivi alle tecnologie avanzate, le interazioni umane con gli artefatti si sono evolute in complessità, comprendendo una vasta gamma di oggetti che sono diventati parte integrante della vita personale e sociale. Questo tema è stato ampiamente esplorato da diverse discipline, tra cui il Design, l’Interazione Uomo-Macchina (HCI), l’Ingegneria e le Arti Visive. Tuttavia, per affrontare adeguatamente questa crescente complessità, è necessario investigare come queste interazioni vadano oltre la mera funzionalità, influenzando profondamente le dimensioni esperienziali, inclusi gli aspetti percettivi, emotivi e cognitivi. In particolare, il ruolo dell’estetica nel modellare le nostre interazioni con gli artefatti richiede ancora un’analisi approfondita. Per raggiungere questo obiettivo, la tesi adotta la prospettiva innovativa della Psicologia dell’User Experience (User Experience Psychology, UXP), che pone la psicologia come disciplina centrale per la comprensione delle esperienze utente. Analizzando i principali processi psicologici coinvolti nell’UX — percettivi/estetici, affettivi e cognitivi — questa tesi mira a dimostrare come le interazioni umane con gli artefatti possano rappresentare potenzialmente esperienze trasformative. A tal fine, il concetto di Esperienze Trasformative (Transformative Experiences, TEs) viene inizialmente introdotto. La tesi esamina sistematicamente la letteratura empirica sulle TEs, in particolare quelle indotte da artefatti artistici, integrando i risultati per identificare aree di ricerca futura e applicazioni pratiche. La dimensione estetica dell’UX viene successivamente analizzata secondo l’approccio psicologico più recente al fenomeno estetico, che include componenti affettive, cognitive e comportamentali. In particolare, le emozioni estetiche, distinte da altre categorie emotive, svolgono un ruolo cruciale nel modellare le interazioni degli utenti e il loro coinvolgimento a lungo termine con gli artefatti. Il ruolo dell’estetica nell’UX viene esplorato attraverso un primo studio empirico che indaga la relazione tra preferenze estetiche e comportamento prosociale in risposta a un artefatto specifico: l’architettura. Il quarto capitolo chiarisce la scelta metodologica di utilizzare la Realtà Virtuale (VR) come medium ideale per presentare artefatti agli utenti e studiare le risposte estetiche e affettive in un contesto ecologico. La VR è sempre più utilizzata per progettare prototipi di artefatti, presentarli agli utenti finali e promuovere nuovi tipi di esperienza estetica. A supporto di questa scelta, il secondo studio empirico confronta le valutazioni cognitive e affettive di un artefatto di design, la bicicletta Graziella, in ambienti virtuali e reali. Inoltre, il terzo studio della tesi esamina come la VR, in quanto tecnologia immersiva, possa intensificare l’intensità delle emozioni estetiche suscitate da celebri dipinti. La tesi culmina in una base teorica comprensiva che integra estetica, emozioni e tecnologia all’interno del design UX, con un focus sul ruolo dello spazio. Lo spazio è parte integrante dell’UX, specialmente poiché viene sempre più progettato attraverso ambienti virtuali per ricreare i contesti naturali di utilizzo degli artefatti. Traendo spunto dalla Psicologia Ambientale e dai principi del Visual Design, l’ultimo capitolo fornisce indicazioni pratiche per migliorare l’apprezzamento estetico e la soddisfazione complessiva degli utenti sia in ambienti fisici che virtuali. I risultati dell’ultimo studio evidenziano l’importanza di creare spazi capaci di favorire esperienze utente significative, memorabili e di impatto. In sintesi, questa tesi di dottorato offre un’esplorazione dell’UX come fenomeno psicologico — e in particolare estetico — sottolineando il ruolo critico dell’affettività nel modellare tali esperienze e il potenziale trasformativo delle interazioni utente. I contributi teorici includono un nuovo potenziale framework concettuale, che integra diverse teorie e modelli psicologici per chiarire i meccanismi attraverso cui l’impatto estetico influenza le risposte affettive, il coinvolgimento, le tendenze comportamentali e l’esperienza complessiva. Dal punto di vista pratico, la tesi fornisce indicazioni utili per progettare esperienze UX più coinvolgenti e risonanti sul piano emotivo. Sottolineando l’importanza dell’affettività e dell’estetica nell’UX, la tesi incoraggia ulteriori esplorazioni in questo campo, suggerendo nuovi percorsi di ricerca e sviluppo. Inoltre, evidenzia il valore della collaborazione interdisciplinare, integrando intuizioni dalla psicologia, dal design, dall’arte, dalla tecnologia e da altre discipline per creare interazioni più centrate sull’utente ed emotivamente soddisfacenti

Mitigating exposure bias in large language model distillation: an imitation learning approach

 Knowledge distillation is recognized as a valuable model compression strategy that alleviates the computational burden of large language models while preserving performance. This strategy involves training a smaller model utilizing both real data and predictions from a more cumbersome model. Traditional distillation methods, however, are often compromised by exposure bias, which results from reliance on next-step prediction training loss. This bias emerges when models are tested in free-running mode, differing from their training regime and leading to a progressive drift in input distributions between testing and training phases. An analogous issue, known as ‘distributional shift’, has been effectively addressed in imitation learning through various methodologies. Therefore, this paper specifically tailors an imitation learning-based solution to a traditional knowledge distillation framework which inherently considers both real data and the teacher’s predictions as dual sources of expert demonstrations. The effectiveness of this approach is demonstrated over five different test datasets, where it outperforms traditional benchmarks across all evaluation metrics. Specifically, it achieves superior results in perplexity, multi-token generation, and G-Eval score, indicating improvements in both predictive accuracy and alignment with human judgment in text quality. These results underscore the potential of this approach to effectively address exposure bias in large language model distillation

Investor networks and social innovation: A stakeholder network analysis of Social Impact Bonds

Social Impact Bonds (SIBs) have emerged as a novel paradigm within social finance, harnessing private capital to address social issues. This collaborative model convenes diverse stakeholders, including government agencies, service providers, and investors, to achieve predefined social outcomes linked to financial returns. A core component of SIBs is the investor network, which encompasses institutional investors, philanthropists, and impact investors. This network plays a key role in influencing project financing, intervention strategies, and governance structures. This study leverages stakeholder network theory to explore these dynamics. By applying network analysis, we map out how stakeholders interact, depend on one another, and share information. We analyse metrics like centrality and clustering to understand how the network structure impacts investor behaviour and project success. Our findings show that investors with higher betweenness centrality have a greater influence, linked to improved project performance and stronger social impact outcomes. This research offers fresh evidence of how network dynamics affect SIB results, providing valuable insights for improving investor involvement and network efficiency in future social finance projects

Major Depression in Comorbidity with Substance use Disorders: Patients' Features and Clinical-Neurobiological Rationale of Antidepressant Treatments

: The frequent co-occurrence of major depressive disorder (MDD) and substance use disorders (SUDs) entails significant clinical challenges. Compared to patients with MDD alone, patients with MDD and SUD often show increased anhedonia, emotional blunting, and impaired cognitive function. These symptoms lead to an inability to control cravings, more substance use, increased relapse rates, and poor adherence to the treatment. This fosters a detrimental cycle leading to more severe depressive symptoms, functional impairment, and chronicity, culminating in heightened morbidity, mortality, and healthcare resource utilization. Data on antidepressant treatment of MDD-SUD patients are inconclusive and often conflicting because of a number of confounding factors in clinical trials or difficulty in dissecting the specific contributions of pharmacological versus psychological interventions in real-world studies. The patient's unique clinical features and specific SUD and MDD subtypes must be considered when choosing treatments. Ideally, drug treatment for MDD-SUD should act on both conditions and address core symptoms such as anhedonia, craving, and cognitive dysfunction while ensuring minimal emotional blunting, absence of drug interactions, and no addictive potential. This approach aims to address unmet needs and optimize the outcomes in a clinical population often underrepresented in treatment paradigms

Tackling Extreme Inequalities in Education. Italian Teachers, Reception Workers and the Inclusion of Unaccompanied Foreign Minors

The educational inclusion of Unaccompanied Foreign Minors (UAMs) remains a critical challenge within European migration and education policies. This study examines the role of Italian teachers, alongside reception workers, in addressing the educational inequalities faced by UAMs. Drawing on literature on the teacher effect and teachers’ intercultural responsibility, the research explores the attitudes and commitment of the adults involved in the educational relationship with UAMs. The empirical basis consists of qualitative data collected between 2020 and 2022, including nine focus groups with 60 teachers and 56 reception workers, as well as 52 semi-structured interviews with UAMs across various Italian regions. The findings highlight the role of teachers in either facilitating or hindering UAMs’ access to education, influenced by their intercultural competence and institutional constraints. Two governance models emerge: an “inclusion-oriented” model, characterized by structured collaboration between schools and reception facilities, and an “exclusion-oriented” model, marked by weak institutional coordination and discretionary practices. While some teachers support UAMs’ integration, others perpetuate bias and exclusion. Future research should focus on strengthening multi-agency governance frameworks, reducing institutional disparities, and enhancing teacher training in intercultural competences. A structured approach to UAMs’ education is essential to reducing inequalities and fostering meaningful social inclusion

Vissuti di fallimento e rinascite possibili

Il capitolo indaga le dimensioni della paura di fallire in un campione rappresentativo di adolescenti italiani. Vnegono presentati dati qualitativi e quantitativi e vengono offerte indicazioni di possibili intervent

Verbs in -sc- between Inflection and Derivation. Lexicographic Representation and Theoretical Issues

Latin verbs in -sc- have long intrigued linguists, who have explored their semantics and derivational history. However, their classification as either inflectional or derivational has received much less attention. This paper delves into the lexicographic representation of these verbs and its implications for annotation practices, and critically examines the inflection-derivation distinction, focusing on the remarkable fact that perfectum forms are shared by both sc-verbs and their counterparts without -sc-. This suggests a potential shift toward considering forms in -sc- as part of inflection rather than derivation. Additional evidence in favour of such a view is provided by the fact that, semantically, the ‐sc- suffix appears to relate more to (grammatical) aspect than Aktionsart. The paper discusses these complexities and offers alternative representation options that align with recent theoretical proposals and have practical advantages

A size-based contingency approach to family firms’ performance: the role of family power

This paper aims to analyze the effect played by firm size, as a fundamental dimension of a firm’s architecture, in shaping the relationship between corporate governance and a family firm’s performance. Specifically, we explore whether and how family power, conceptualized through the three governance dimensions of family ownership, family involvement in the board, and family leadership—namely family CEO and CEO duality—affects the firm’s profitability, contingent upon its size. From a theoretical standpoint, we build on agency theory, stewardship theory, and socio-emotional wealth (SEW) theory to develop a unifying contingency framework on the role of the firm's size in determining both the magnitude and direction of the family power effects on performance. Drawing on a dataset of 548 firm-year observations of Italian-listed family firms in the 2014–2021 period, we find evidence that in smaller family firms, where the preservation of the socio-emotional endowment and family legacy is more pronounced, both the benefits and costs associated with agency and stewardship mechanisms are strengthened

Cross-cultural moral judgments and emotions in preschoolers: human and robot transgressions in Japan and Italy

The study aims to investigate the effect of cultural background between Italy and Japan on 5-year- old children’s moral judgements and emotion attributions towards human and robot. The children watched videos drawn from classic ‘happy victimizer’ stories, in which the transgressors were either a child or a robot, violating rules against stealing or not sharing. We assessed the children’s attribution of emotions both to the transgressors and to themselves as victimisers (i.e. first-person perspective), as well as the moral judgement of the violations. The results showed that children from both cultures do not significantly discriminate between human and robot in their moral judgement and emotion attributions. Concerning moral emotions, Italian children tend to attribute fewer negative emotions to the transgressor than Japanese children, especially in the not sharing scenario. Furthermore, adopting a first-person perspective to evaluate moral transgressions reduces cultural differences in emotion attributions. The study highlights how culture, rather than the transgressor’s agency (human or robot), influences early moral reasoning

Rapid and Simple Dispersive Liquid–Liquid Microextraction (DLLME) Sample Preparation for Propofol Analysis in Hair, Blood, and Urine by Gas Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry

Propofol is a widely used anesthetic. Although considered safe, propofol-related deaths occur, as it is sometimes abused recreationally or used to commit suicide. A simple, rapid, and reliable method for its analysis in various biological samples is needed. Sample clean-up is a critical step in the analysis, both in terms of time and cost, indeed. Dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction (DLLME) is a simple and fast extraction based on ternary solvent mixtures that uses small volumes of solvent and sample. A DLLME extraction followed by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) analysis was developed and validated for the analysis of propofol in blood, urine, and hair. The same extraction mixture of 2.5:1 methanol/chloroform was used for the different biological samples. Validation for linearity, LOD, LOQ, precision, accuracy, and recovery gave satisfactory results for the three types of biological samples included in the study, with limits of quantification of 1 μg/mL for urine, 0.2 μg/mL for blood, and 0.1 ng/mg for hair. The DLLME procedure for purification involves a small amount of solvent, thus reducing the cost and the environmental impact. In addition, a high enrichment factor is obtained, and the time for analysis is short. The method was applied to authentic post-mortem samples for the determination of propofol in blood, urine, and hair. Also, segmental hair analysis was performed to assess chronic propofol abuse. The developed method proved to be rapid, simple, and cost-effective for blood, urine, and hair extract clean-up for the determination of propofol by GC/MS