Emotions and Emotion Theories in Information Retrieval: Roles and Applications

Emotions in the process of information retrieval have a special impact and importance as every human activity and behavior is under the influence of emotions. This is an issue that has received little attention in the field of information retrieval. Therefore, the present study aims to describe the role and application of emotion and emotion theories in information retrieval.

The current research has been done by library method. The necessary data were gathered through the study of printed and electronic information resources available in libraries, on the Internet and in Persian and English databases.

Emotions are an integral part of all human activities, including information retrieval activities, containing information behaviors, information searches and so on, and human interaction with the computer. Emotions play a special role in retrieving a variety of text, audio and video sources. Positive emotions facilitate successful behavior and negative emotions impede proper person's function.

Understanding the emotions in different stages of information retrieval and utilizing theories of emotion to understand the causes of emotions, factors affecting emotions and so on would be an important step in controlling emotions and increasing the positive emotions in the process of information retrieval. Also it will help designers of information systems and librarians to provide more desirable and user-friendly services.