As most products and services have been commoditized and more easily replaced with alternatives, experience has become the key differentiator for most, if not all, organizations to compete. It is more important than ever to understand the experiences of all stakeholders (including employees, readers, customers, users, etc.), and not just the ones in the U.S.

Capturing and quantifying experience has, therefore, become critical to these organization’s success in order to understand and improve consumer experiences with their products and services. Morphii continues to be a pivotal component in this effort. (Morphii Impact)

Morphiis were originally designed to capture and quantify six basic emotional constructs that are widely considered to share universal similarities in terms of expression (Happiness, Sadness, Anger, Surprise, Fear and Disgust). Our early (2017-2018) validation for the Core Collection of morphiis focused only on respondents in the US.

Recently, we embarked on exciting new research to demonstrate that these Core morphiis are universally understood and accurately represent these basic emotions.

Although expected, we are pleased to say that the six Core morphiis performed exceptionally well in global markets—indicating that they are capable of capturing basic emotional constructs without cultural interference.

 

The Research:

The sample for this study includes 1,400+ residents across 4 global regions (North America: 300+ residents of the US and Canada; Latin America: 297 residents of Mexico and Chile; Europe: 300+ residents of Germany, France and the UK; Asia Pacific: 500+ residents of India, Japan, Korea, the Philippines, Australia and New Zealand).

The study was conducted in English among a sample who self-identified as being fluent in English. Our goal was to demonstrate that, regardless of their location or native language, respondents would recognize and identify the correct morphii image for each construct at a reasonable and definitive rate based on the intensity level of the expression. The threshold of accuracy for the highest intensity face for each construct (1.0 on the continuous scale) was set at 70%; and, the threshold of accuracy for the low intensity face for each construct (0.3 on the continuous scale) was set at 45%. These thresholds allow for confidence in each graphic image to represent their relative constructs across the range of intensity; and, in combination with a refreshed study design, they also provide a means for quality control by calculating a reasonable difference from chance—meaning that randomly selecting a correct answer was more difficult than in early validation studies and poor quality responses submitted at random could be quarantined and disqualified more efficiently.

 

The six Core morphiis met these thresholds of recognition across all 4 established global regions, and resulted in the average global pass rates listed in the following table:

Construct:

Surprised

Disgusted

Angry

Sad

Happy

Afraid

Intensity:

LOW

HIGH

LOW

HIGH

LOW

HIGH

LOW

HIGH

LOW

HIGH

LOW

HIGH

Average Global Pass %:

79.00

88.98

71.30

88.25

64.63

95.78

62.18

98.75

95.35

97.43

65.05

90.35

What’s Next:

We are working towards publishing these results in our formal Technical Manual in December, 2021. This publication will include findings at each regional level and explore any noteworthy variations in construct recognition or study design that may impact future research or product development.

In early 2022, we intend to build upon this study to include international validation for morphiis that represent constructs beyond the Core emotions that are commonly used in market research by our partners.

Additional emotion constructs that are measurable with Morphii include:

• Love
• Delight
• Satisfaction
• Indifference (Meh)
• Disappointment
• Worry
• Frustration
• Hate
• Confusion
• Uneasiness (Troubled)
• Comfort (Relaxed)
• Boredom/Skepticism/Doubt (Eye Roll)

As well as, measurement for Mood States like feeling:

• Good
• Grumpy
• Down
• Tense

To discuss opportunities to collaborate through Research on Research projects or to implement Morphii as a part of  your own Experience Design and Insights initiatives, please contact info@morphii.com!