Psychology
Human Factors in Psychology
Human factors in psychology refers to the study of how humans interact with their environment, tools, and technology. It focuses on understanding human behavior, cognition, and performance to design systems, products, and environments that are safe, efficient, and user-friendly. This field integrates principles from psychology, engineering, and design to improve human well-being and productivity.
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12 Key excerpts on "Human Factors in Psychology"
eBook - ePubIntroduction to Human Factors
Applying Psychology to Design
- Nancy J. Stone, Alex Chaparro, Joseph R. Keebler, Barbara S. Chaparro, Daniel S. McConnell(Authors)
- 2017(Publication Date)
- CRC Press(Publisher)
human factors is an area of applied psychology in which psychological science, theory, and knowledge are used to design the environment to fit the limits and capabilities of the human users. The “environment” is defined broadly and includes physical and social aspects (Barker, 1968; McGrath, 1984). The physical aspects include anything you can sense, such as sound, visual information, motion, and the amount of space you have. The social aspects include the conditions of the situation that give us the sense that we should act in a particular way. For example, we generally have a sense that particular behaviors are required in a classroom, such as being on time, taking notes, and participating in group discussions. On a test day, there is the additional time demand or pressure to perform well, which can impact how we cognitively process information. Similarly, an environment might be too dark, noisy, and crowded for reading, but ideal for socializing with friends. Therefore, how we perceive the physical and social aspects of the environment influences us. Given this definition, the environment could include an airplane cockpit, a car, an apartment or a dorm room, a kitchen, a public library, a work environment or an office space, or an outdoor space.The environment also includes an assortment of items that the individual uses. To ensure that humans can effectively and safely fly planes, drive cars, use equipment and computers, and even use cell phones, we must consider the limits of human functioning as well as the capabilities of the user. The limits and capabilities of humans involve the psychological, and often the physiological and physical, aspects of the user. For example, human factors considers the user’s ability to perceive visual information (see Chapter 3 ) such as traffic signs or auditory information (see Chapter 4 ) such as sirens. Sometimes, weather or lighting prevents us from accurately perceiving these signs. Similarly, we do not always perceive or hear sirens, depending on the noise level around us, where our attention is focused, or whether we are wearing headphones. The design of the environment, then, must include the application of theories of attention, memory, multitasking (see Chapter 6
eBook - ePubHuman Factors in Land Use Planning and Urban Design
Methods, Practical Guidance, and Applications
- Nicholas J. Stevens, Paul M. Salmon, Guy H. Walker, Neville A. Stanton(Authors)
- 2018(Publication Date)
- CRC Press(Publisher)
1INTRODUCTION TO HUMAN FACTORS METHODS IN LAND USE PLANNING AND URBAN DESIGN1.1 What Is Human Factors?Human factors (HF) is the discipline dedicated to understanding the interactions and interface of humans with their environments. Through the application of theory, principles, and methods, HF practitioners seek to optimize human behavior, well-being, and system performance. The discipline contributes to the design and evaluation of systems that are compatible with the needs, limitations, and abilities of people. Most often associated with systems of work, it is a multidisciplinary field that bridges psychology, industrial and systems engineering, and computer, safety, and sports sciences. It provides an end-user focused approach for better understanding measured behavior and capabilities, rather than assumptions or trial-and-error, within complex systems of all kinds.1.2 What Is a Human Factors Problem?Most readers will be able to identify an example of an HF problem from their own experience of work, study, or just their daily lives. An HF problem will more than likely possess some, or all, of the following attributes. It will be a problem that impacts negatively on individual behavior and overall system performance. It will involve humans in systems who are not behaving as they were expected to because elements of the system were not designed to fit their needs and capabilities. These elements may include the artifacts they are using, the physical environment, the training they have received, the procedures they are working too, the other humans they are interacting with, and so on. It will be a problem that existing methods of design, evaluation, and procurement have somehow not captured, despite in-depth testing and analysis. Above all, it will usually be frustratingly resistant to a whole range of purely technical interventions.These HF problems impact our daily lives. Their impacts range from minor frustrations, such as cumbersome and difficult to use products, to major catastrophes with significant injuries, fatalities, and social and economic costs. The focus of the HF discipline is to remove these issues through informed system design that is based on an understanding of human and system behavior and the factors that influence it.
eBook - ePub- V. D. Hopkin(Author)
- 2017(Publication Date)
- CRC Press(Publisher)
4 Human cognitive capabilities and limitations 4.1 Functions of psychological theories and constructsPsychology is the scientific study of human behaviour and experience. Human capabilities and limitations are part of its subject-matter. Its theories and constructs should therefore be applicable to the human factors aspects of air traffic control. Although the human factors contributions to interdisciplinary work and discussions on air traffic control have to be couched in plain language, the human factors work itself, while eschewing jargon, employs the technical language of the discipline, characterized by its precisely defined concepts and their accepted technical meanings and connotations, and by implied theoretical frameworks and relationships. Much human factors terminology comes originally from psychology. The influence of psychology also pervades its methodology and many of its measurement tools and techniques.Psychology and human factors deal with influences on human attributes and with influences that human attributes exert. Most topics included within psychology have potential human factors implications. Psychology can therefore contribute a substantive though incomplete list of issues to be considered in the application of human factors to air traffic control. Numerous theoretical and practical, laboratory and field-based measures developed in psychology usually provide the bulk of the evidence from human factors studies of air traffic control, although measures originating in other disciplines are needed too. These psychological measures that have evolved to be applied to human beings are associated with experimental designs and statistical techniques suited to the multiplicity of interacting influences that typically affect human thoughts and actions, and they thus seem apposite for the study of air traffic control.General psychological theories and constructs fulfil further roles in relation to air traffic control. If they are applied to interpret or explain air traffic control findings, they can help to validate those findings by demonstrating their compliance with the theories (Bisseret, 1981; Narborough-Hall, 1987). When compatibility implies that the findings exemplify a more general psychological theory, that theory can be used to generate hypotheses on the circumstances under which the findings will remain applicable, and hence the theory may predict the generalizability of the findings. In such instances, theories are applied to evidence already obtained. A further role of theories is to identify combinations of variables and conditions that would be crucial tests of them, and hence to pinpoint the most productive kinds of additional evidence. This integration of theory and practice can be a cost-effective tool to define the boundaries within which human factors recommendations apply, by providing explanations of them and a rationale for the valid extrapolation of the findings beyond their original conditions.
- Phillip A. Laplante(Author)
- 2010(Publication Date)
- Auerbach Publications(Publisher)
Originally, it primarily connoted physical considerations for the design of equipment and tasks. Engineering psychology was most associated with mental considerations, and is the term still used by the American Psychological Association for their Division 21 (see http://www.apa.org/divisions/div21/). Human factors, from the beginning, included both physical and mental aspects of the design of equipment and systems that interface with humans, and for decades was the preferred term in the United States, with ergonomics being preferred in Europe. The IEA has broadened the use of the term ergonomics beyond the traditional physical ergonomics to include cognitive ergonomics and organizational ergonomics (IEA, http://www.iea.cc). In recognition of the increasing international use of the term ergonomics, the Human Factors Society changed its name to the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society in 1993. HISTORY OF HUMAN FACTORS ENGINEERING Stone Age implements are the earliest examples of ergonomics or human factors applied to the design of artifacts. One of the earliest publications cited as an example of human factors design is Hippocrates’ description of the design of a surgeon’s workplace in the fifth century b.c.e. [4] Other early roots of human factors include the “scientific management” of Fredrick Taylor and the time-and-motion studies of Frank and Lillian Gilbreth in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries
eBook - ePub- Robert W. Proctor, Trisha Van Zandt(Authors)
- 2018(Publication Date)
- CRC Press(Publisher)
The major impetus for the establishment of human factors as a discipline came from technological developments during World War II. As weapon and transport systems became increasingly sophisticated, great technological advances were also being made in factory automation and in equipment for common use. Through the difficulties encountered while operating such sophisticated equipment, the need for human factors analyses became evident. Human factors research was preceded by research in the areas of human performance psychology, industrial engineering, and human physiology. Thus, the historical overview that we present here will begin by establishing the groundwork within these areas that relate to human factors. The primary message you should take from this section is the general nature and tenor of work that provided an initial foundation for the field of human factors and not the details of this work, much of which is discussed more thoroughly in later chapters.PSYCHOLOGY OF HUMAN PERFORMANCEThe study of human performance emphasizes basic human capabilities involved in perceiving and acting on information arriving through the senses. Research on human performance dates to the mid-19th century (Boring, 1942), with work on sensory psychophysics and the time to perform various mental operations being particularly relevant for human factors. Many of the concepts and methods these early pioneers developed to study human performance are still part of the modern human factors toolbox.Sensory PsychophysicsErnst Weber (b1795–d1878) and Gustav Fechner (b1801–d1887) founded the study of psychophysics and are considered to be the fathers of modern experimental psychology. Both Weber and Fechner investigated the sensory and perceptual capabilities of humans. Weber (1846/1978) examined people’s ability to determine that two stimuli, such as two weights, differ in magnitude. The relation that he discovered has come to be known as Weber ’s law
eBook - ePub- Bryan E. Porter(Author)
- 2011(Publication Date)
- Academic Press(Publisher)
Chapter 15. Human Factors and ErgonomicsIlit Oppenheim and David Shinar
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, IsraelHuman factors is the field concerned with the design implications of human limitations and capabilities. In the driving task, many human characteristics affect the way we interact with our vehicle and with the roadway and other traffic. This chapter illustrates some of these interactions, with emphasis on their implications for modeling driver behavior, and the benefits and pitfalls of driver support systems.1. Introduction
“Human factors” or “ergonomic” aspects of traffic psychology refer to the implications of the road user’s physical, physiological, cognitive, personality, and social behavior concerns and considerations in the design of vehicles and roadways. Human factors/ergonomics (HFE) is a relatively new scientific discipline, with the first book in this area published by Chapanis, Garner, and Morgan in 1949 . It is distinct from psychology, engineering, and design because the focus of analysis is on the interaction between people and technology rather than on people or technology independently from each other. This means that HFE requires an interdisciplinary approach. HFE scientists are concerned with human performance in technological systems with a view to optimization of the design of the system in terms of values such as effectiveness, safety, comfort, and well-being. Like all scientific disciplines, HFE is characterized by theoretical and methodological development together with empirical investigations. The latter tend to shift between real-world studies and laboratory studies (Stanton, Young, & Walker, 2007 ).The importance of HFE in highway traffic safety was highlighted in two landmark studies that were published at approximately the same time in the United States (Treat et al., 1977 ) and in the United Kingdom (Sabey & Staughton, 1975 ). The studies focused on the causes of traffic accidents, and they identified factors associated with large samples of driving crashes. The research groups, which were unaware of each other’s activities, obtained remarkably similar findings. The U.S. study found the road user to be the sole cause of 57% of crashes, the environment in 3%, and the vehicle in 2%. The corresponding values from the UK study were 65, 2, and 2%, respectively. Approximately half the crashes were caused by a combination of factors, in which had one not existed the crash would not have occurred. Thus, in conjunction with other causes, the road user was identified as a sole or contributing factor in 94% of crashes in the U.S. study and in 95% of crashes in the UK study. The road environment alone or with other factors was identified as a causal factor in 31% of crashes in the U.S. study and in 27% of crashes in the UK study (Figure 15.1
eBook - ePubHuman Factors Methods for Design
Making Systems Human-Centered
- Christopher P. Nemeth(Author)
- 2004(Publication Date)
- CRC Press(Publisher)
Development relies on correctly identifying who is the operator, the maintainer, or the user. Products of development are drawn from cultural values, usually that of the country in which the development is being done. A team in a U.S. firm can develop a product that rests on U.S. cultural presumptions. However, many products are exported to other countries. Unless sufficient research has been done to understand the implications for the culture in the country of sale, problems can occur. This area of interest is often referred to as cultural human factors.Cultural human factors can influence any aspect of a product from the need for it to its interface design, physical dimensions and labels. This can be an issue for products that are sent from one culture to another. It can also affect the use of products by one who comes from another culture; a thought that occured to the author while once using a fax machine with Norwegian labels in Norway and a PC with Flemish labels in northern Belgium.2.9.2 Individuals
Individuals vary in their ability to perform tasks. Human factors practice has developed areas of study (e.g. individual differences, aging) to better understand them. Variation in individual performance can be the result of permanent, temporary or progressive causes.Permanent—Permanent conditions can affect a career. Physical abilities or disabilities range from individuals with exceptional agility and strength to those who have impairments due to infirmities since birth or severe accidents. Psychological abilities or disabilities range from those who can perceive, reason and remember exceptionally well to those who have emotional and rational impairments.Temporary—Temporary conditions (e.g. fatigue, injury, response to conditions such as illness or stress) can require adjustments to performance expectations.Progressive—Progressive conditions (e.g. age, chronic debilitating afflictions such as arthritis) can cause a gradual change to an individual’s ability to perform.2.10 Summary
Human behavior and physiology serve as the basis for the development of products that are, in fact, human-centered. Humans perform seven roles in the operational environment: decision maker, monitor, information processor, closed-loop controller, information encoder and storer, discrimination and pattern recognizer and ingenious problem-solver. Individual ability to perform in these roles relies on human limits and abilities.
eBook - ePubControlling Uncertainty
Decision Making and Learning in Complex Worlds
- Magda Osman(Author)
- 2011(Publication Date)
- Wiley-Blackwell(Publisher)
Until now, the work discussed in this book has focused on ways of representing and designing control systems. This chapter is the first occasion in which the uncertainties of the environment are considered with respect to human behaviour and the kinds of adaptive control behaviours that emerge as a product of the interaction with control systems. Another aim of this chapter is to provide illustrations in which there are gaps between the assumptions and capabilities of the human operator and the behaviour of the control system. In most day-to-day cases, such gaps make little difference to controlling the actual outcome in a system – in fact, we behave with a rather impoverished understanding of the control systems we operate. However, in other cases such gaps can have dire consequences. The severity of such cases suggests that even with ever increasing technological advances and sophisticated system design, the changes generated and observed in the environment present the same continued challenge. For this reason alone, it is important to consider the target question of this book: ‘How do we learn about, and control online, an uncertain environment that may be changing as a consequence of our actions, or autonomously, or both?’ from the point of view of the kinds of interactions with control systems that human operators face. Another reason is that human factors research examines possible causes for increases in our levels of uncertainty when operating control systems. These possible causes can lead to errors, and so being aware of them is clearly of interest. However, before this discussion can begin, it is important to establish more specifically what the domain of human factors actually is.Human FactorsThere is no strict agreement as to the differences between human factors research and other related areas such as HCI, ergonomics and cognitive engineering (Vicente, 1999), and it is not the place of this chapter to attempt to do so. Rather, the aim here is to consider across all these different research domains the main tenet they all share. In the general, there appears to be little controversy in suggesting that their common goal is to accurately represent and describe the dynamic relationship between humans and complex systems.1 Human factors research also crosses over to other disciplines (e.g., engineering, psychology, AI and machine learning).Why might this be the case? Well, it has been argued that the formal models (e.g., fuzzy set theory, Bayes theorem, optimal sampling, reinforcement learning, neutral networks, Kalman filter and signal detection theory) used to describe the environment (i.e., the artificial system) can also be used to characterize the interaction between the humans and control systems (Melnik, 2009). The choice of model applied to describe the capabilities of human learning and decision making depends on the purpose of the interaction. So, as with machine learning, no one model wins outright in formally capturing either what the environment is (i.e., the type of control system) or human behaviour (e.g., what kind of decision-making behaviour needs to be described), but rather different flavours of models suit different goals. It is important to highlight here that an ongoing issue in human factors research is whether there can in fact be a formal description of the interaction between humans and machines – this point will be discussed in some detail later.
- Paul H. King, Richard C. Fries, Arthur T. Johnson(Authors)
- 2018(Publication Date)
- CRC Press(Publisher)
Human FactorsIn the sick room, ten cents’ worth of human understanding equals ten dollars’ worth of medical science. Martin H. FischerSomewhere, it is likely that a person is driving in the wrong direction on a one-way road. Somewhere else, someone is driving without headlights, although he/she is needing them, but cannot determine how to turn them on. A student just flunked an exam by using the wrong answer sheet. Several folks are trying to go in the outdoor, … Poor labeling, distractions, and other factors may be to blame here. For the purposes of this text, we will concern ourselves with the need to account for this in device design via the use of human factors studies. As many student design projects are human factors projects in nature, this chapter will cover several of the relevant considerations that a project must consider. The use of human factors is mandated by the FDA when documentation is required on devices; thus this is an important design consideration.Human factors engineering, also called ergonomics, can trace its roots to early industrial engineering studies of work efficiency and task performance using, for example, time-motion techniques. Human factors engineering emerged as a recognized discipline during World War II while focusing primarily on military system performance, including problems in signal detection, workspace constraints, and optimal task training. The widespread recognition of the importance of applying human factors engineering in the design of tools, devices, tasks, and other human activities is reflected in the increasing number of disparate professionals interested in human factors. Their work products can be found in lay and professional publications, standards, and other documents. Human factors activities have improved the quality of personal and professional life across many domains. Public and professional interest in patient safety issues has promoted increased application of human factors engineering to the medical domain. Human factors is also termed usability engineering in many references, we will constrain the writing here to the term human factors.
- John M. Flach, Peter A. Hancock, Jeff Caird, Kim J. Vicente, John M. Flach, Peter A. Hancock, Jeff Caird, Kim J. Vicente(Authors)
- 2018(Publication Date)
- CRC Press(Publisher)
organismic approach. These two views of psychology — ecological and organismic — lead to two very different conceptions of human factors research.When applied to human factors, the ecological approach suggests that the fundamental unit of analysis is the human-machine system (Flach, 1989). The human operator and work environment are reciprocally coupled and cannot be studied independently of one another. As a result, an ecological approach to human factors begins by studying the constraints in the environment (i.e., task or work domain) that are relevant to the operator. Not any description of the environment will do, however. To be useful for understanding behavior, such a description must be defined with respect to system goals (see the discussions of Gibson’s, 1979, concept of affordances in Flach, 1989; and Vicente & Rasmussen, 1990). This emphasis on describing the environment contrasts with the organismic approach which, instead of acknowledging the importance of context on behavior, attempts to minimize or, occasionally even worse, ignore the influence of the environment. Meister (1989) has also drawn a distinction between the ecological and organismic approaches, referring to them as the systems and psychological perspectives, respectively. In fact, the ecological approach has much in common with systems theory, as Gibson (1979, p. 2 ) himself pointed out.What implications does the ecological approach have for the practice of human factors? 3.2 Implications for Human Performance ModelingOne of the areas that the ecological approach can impact is that of human performance modeling. A good way to point out these implications is to begin with Simon’s (1981) description of an ant traversing the terrain of a beach: “Viewed as a geometric figure, the ant’s path is irregular, complex, hard to describe. But its complexity is really a complexity in the surface of the beach, not a complexity in the ant” (p. 64
eBook - ePub- Robert Bridger(Author)
- 2017(Publication Date)
- CRC Press(Publisher)
1 Human Factors and Ergonomics from the Earliest Times to the PresentGeneral Requirements for Humans in SystemsIn the past, the man has been first; in the future, the system must be first. Taylor, 1911 Core Knowledge: Understanding Human Factors and Ergonomics1.1 Equipment is operable and safe1.2 Tasks are compatible with people’s expectations limitations and training1.3 An environment that is comfortable and appropriate for the task1.4 Job aids and training are appropriate to the work1.5 A system of work organization that recognizes peoples’ social and economic needsEvery time we use a tool or a machine we interact with it via an interface (a handle, a steering wheel, a computer keyboard and mouse, etc.). The core knowledge of HFE describes how best to design tools and machines in order to optimize these interactions and also the effect of the ambient environmental conditions when the interaction takes place. The aim is to maximize compatibility between system components with the main focus on the user.Compatibility: Matching Demands to CapabilitiesCompatibility between the user and the rest of the system can be achieved at a number of levels: biomechanical, anatomical, physiological, behavioral, and cognitive levels. In order to achieve compatibility, we need to assess the demands placed by the technological and environmental constraints and weigh them against the capabilities of the users. The database of modern HFE contains much information on the capabilities and characteristics of people, and one of the main purposes of this book is to introduce the reader to this information and show how it can be used in practice.Poor system functioning can be caused by a lack of compatibility in some or all of the interactions involving the human operator. This incompatibility can occur due to a variety of reasons. For example,
eBook - ePubThe Risk Management of Safety and Dependability
A Guide for Directors, Managers and Engineers
- W Wong(Author)
- 2010(Publication Date)
- Woodhead Publishing(Publisher)
4Human factors in risk management: understanding why humans fail and are unreliable
Abstract:
The risk of human error is an important hazard and the cause of over 60% of accidents. People make mistakes due to fatigue as a result of poor working conditions, poorly designed human interfaces, and their physiological limitations. They are motivated by psychological factors and need to be properly informed and are affected by their education and training. These matters are fully discussed and illustrated by many case histories.Key words human factors five principles human interface ergonomics working environment mental capacity control loop feedback information overload operator controls anthropometrics physiology task overload fatigue capability psychology failure types complacency mindset capacity mental state communications4.1 Introduction
Human beings are involved with the operation and maintenance of any process, plant or machine. Very often an error is made that can cause disruption and even death and injury. It has been said that: ‘People do not go to work to have an accident; they go to work to come home again.’ Even more (unless they are terrorists), people do not go to work intending to harm anyone. Statistics show that over 60% of accidents are attributed to human error. However, when an accident happens, as in a railway collision, the first thought is to call it driver error. The truth may well be much more complex. Driver error (failure), certainly, but the factors that caused the driver error may well be the prime cause of the accident.The purpose of this chapter is to provide an introduction to the factors, human factors, which contribute to the risk of human failure. The aim is to understand how to provide conditions that will enable people to avoid making mistakes. One fundamental issue is in the need to consider human factors in the design of processes and machines in accordance with the Machinery Directive.1 Humans are needed to both operate and maintain machines, and even in their final disposal. To do this, the range of human types and operating environments involved must be clearly defined and considered. Figure 4.1
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