Consumer-product attachment

Products can create a emotional bond with the user.Objects can acumulate the signs of their usage history. Based on a subjective input, designers are trying to work on this area of the creative proccess by introducing new ways of attachment like the customization of objects.

To clarify the concept I intruduce the 4 facets on a person self-schema:

The Difusse Self is the hedonic satisfaction by enjoyment, which is a driver arttachment by sensory pleasures (is the "love at first sight" concept.

The Private Self refers to our definition as human beings. With the product we discover our skills, independence, goals... we identify ourselves.
The Public Self is when we are looking for the approval of others. This refers also to the idea of who we are more attached to gifts and the fine who are the important others for us.

The Collective Self symbolize an idea, philosophy. We internalize the norms from a reference group.This implies the highest level of cognitive elavoration linking, conected with a socio-cultural context.

The distinction between the four facets of the self bears resemblance to Jordan’s (2000) description of the four different types of pleasure that people may seek in products: physio-pleasure, psycho-pleasure, socio-pleasure, and ideo-pleasure.

It also relates to the three levels of information processing that result in different types of design focus according to Norman (2004): visceral design, behavioral design, and reflective design.