Card game VIEWS helps understand emotions regarding sustainability

Imagine: a small town is planning to build windmills. In order to gauge opinion, the town council organizes a public assembly and the emotions of councillors and citizens run high. How can you balance the interests of all these people with the desire for sustainable innovation? This is the basis of VIEWS, a card game developed by researchers at the University of Groningen and Delft University of Technology.

The relationship between values and emotion

In VIEWS the players form a public assembly in which a decision has to be made about whether or not to introduce an innovation related to sustainability. Players must work together to find out what emotions are at play and to which personal core values they are linked. Because: research shows that a strong emotional reaction stems from someone’s core values. People may have negative feelings about innovations that have characteristics that threaten their core values, while they may have positive feelings about innovations that have characteristics that support their core values. In VIEWS, players explore the connections between these values and the emotions that arise from them.

Insight into emotions

The game is primarily intended for (technical) developers of innovations and policy makers, but it can be played by anyone who wants more insight into the emotions and values surrounding sustainable innovations.

Visit the VIEWS website for more information about the game and the theory it was based on. The game can also be downloaded there, for free.

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