Week 12: Mapping Overall Research Flow & Begin Prototyping
This week I am preparing myself for the final presentation of this semester by writing all of the main points and putting all of them together into a map that makes a clear sense of flow from the beginning until the end. Other than that, I also started making some quick prototyping and surveys to see where people stand on my thesis topic.
Mapping
Most of my time this week I spent on figuring out the connections between all the secondary research that I have done in the previous weeks and how they correlate and inform one another, especially in regards to the first two topic areas, which is the psychology behind our memories and the silent mental health crisis within Asian cultures. This is important because the whole thing has to relate and make sense for the audience and so that it will help building a solid draft when I start writing my dissertation for the following week.
The first thing that I feel the need to clarify is whether or not the notion of our memory defining our identity valid. Apparently after John Locke’s release of “memory theory” towards the general public, scientists were unconvinced and started to conduct many studies here and there to prove its validity. There are new studies that suggest how our moral behaviors are the ones that define our identity instead. But then I thought if there are theories on our memory defining our identity, our behavior defining our identity, and our memory driving our behavior, then it means there is a circular relationship between the three that informs one another.
From the mid-term presentation, I already found out that the impact of our adaptive behavior as a result of the nature of our memories could either be healthy or destructive to our well-being. This becomes an issue after learning about the implications for help-seeking behavior and perceptions found among Asian and Pacific Americans when it comes to mental health issues. Because as a consequence, the legacy of mistrust and skepticism with white controlled institutions reinforces social separation and the development of self-reliance that results in low self-esteem, as we become defensive and abstain from showing vulnerability. In addition to that, with the phenomena of overgeneralizing autobiographical memory when we have difficulties in remembering past memories, there is a negative reinforcement being maintained as an avoidance strategy of disturbed emotions instead. This suppressing way of recollecting memory is ineffective as it means that we subconsciously fear of being vulnerable with ourselves.
Moving on towards the third topic area for my secondary research on healthy ways to emotional regulation, in her Well Nest blog, Sarah Ahmed mentioned that there is a risk of emotional exposure in being vulnerable, but it is a necessary step to be able to understand ourselves emotionally and allow to be true to ourselves. She also provided some examples in terms of the exercises that can help foster internal vulnerability. But for the last topic area on the impact of our environment towards our emotions, it is important to point out that according to Gary Evans, personal control such as vulnerability is both directly and indirectly affected by properties of the built environment. The same with social environment because according to Yen & Syme physical and social environments do not exist independently of each other as any environment is the result of continuing interaction. This conclusion leads me to refine my research statement into questioning how might physical and social environments be accommodations to help individuals in being vulnerable with themselves as well as their negative memories in the past?
Survey
At the end of this week I decided to create a quick survey about vulnerability so that I can see where people stand on the topic. The survey is meant to be simple as a starting point of doing research method. It only consists of three simple questions that allow them to reflect on the idea of vulnerability.
Below I made a list of the various properties of built environment discussed by Sara Lindberg in her recent online article that have been proven to have positive impact towards our well-being. To compare, I took the last question of the survey in which prompt asks the participants to imagine themselves being in a small room for 5 minutes and describe an ideal space for them to potentially feel secure or vulnerable with themselves. I find this survey to be insightful for me to understand the different perspectives people have on vulnerability. I am planning to apply those overlapping properties towards the design and do some testing with the remainder.
Prototyping
When I was walking around the city to make observations on certain spaces, I passed by this architectural sculpture that is currently installed at Flatiron Public Plaza. There was a prompt revolves around dreaming of a world together and a bunch of post-it notes attached on it.
Then I did some more sketches in visualizing that vulnerable space for one because I feel like this can translate into so many things. The most effective one will depend on the preference of participants, which is why I have to do many tests with the prototype later on.
To test the success rate of this idea, I attempted to make a quick prototype for this space of one by creating a tent with some chairs, sheer curtains, and lights that I have at home. Then I edited the text projection on to the wall surface and manipulated the colors and ambiance of the space. From this prototyping, I realized there are a wide range of properties that I can add and play with in designing the experience.
Refining Thesis Timeline
I also refined and put together my plan for this winter up until the end of next thesis semester. I think so far from where I stand, I am pretty much caught up with what I expected myself to be. Honestly, creating a physical installation intimidates me a little bit because I have never done something this big of a scale before, but I am excited about it, so hopefully everything goes well.
