Would You Press the Button? An Interactive Installation on Temptation and Choice

Not every decision has major consequences, but small choices can still reveal something about how people think, feel, and respond to temptation.

At CMKL University, a team of M.S. in TCI students developed The Choice Interface, an interactive installation that invites visitors to confront their own intrusive thoughts in a controlled and consequence-free setting.

The installation presents scenes where a single button press can trigger a small but morally questionable outcome, such as closing an elevator door just before another person reaches it. Pressing the button is fully optional, but the temptation is intentionally present.

Through this simple interaction, the project explores a deeper question: what do people do when they are given the power to act on a thought they would normally suppress? The experience does not frame visitors as good or bad. Instead, it creates a playful yet reflective space for considering impulse, choice, consequence, and self-awareness.

As a creative technology project, The Choice Interface uses interaction design to turn moral psychology into an embodied experience. It demonstrates how installations can make abstract questions feel immediate, personal, and memorable.

For CMKL, the project reflects the university’s broader view of innovation: technology can be used not only to solve practical problems, but also to provoke reflection, create dialogue, and help people understand the invisible patterns behind everyday behavior.

Student members: Nattapat Kulwattho, Waris Srirachtrakul, Chanasorn Howattanakulphong, Napatr Sapprasert, Phupa Denphatcharangkul, and Gianmario Carta, M.S. in TCI

Advisor: Dr. Priyakorn Pusawiro, CMKL Adjunct Faculty

Category: Creative Technology / Interactive Installation

Tags: Interactive Installation, Moral Decision-Making, Creative Technology, Human Behavior, Experience Design, Graduate Project