How psychology works the facts visually explained (DK) (Z-Library)

70%

or more of aircraft accidents are due to human error

MEASUREMENTS AND

PRODUCT DESIGN

Two important fields within HFE are anthropometry— the science of measuring the human body and its proportions—and ergonomics—engineering products to fit the human body. Both are essential in creating user-friendly technology. Products such as office chairs designed with a full set of measurements, taking proportions into account, promote worker efficiency and protect from shortand long-term physical harm. Measurements include both obvious ones, such as eye height when sitting, and proportional distances, for instance, between the sitter’s buttocks and toes.

AWARENESS

Training staff to assess work situations objectively

HUMAN ERROR

AND SAFETY

Analyzing the causes of mistakes and making changes to improve safety

ABILITY TO

DISCRIMINATE

Signals should be very different from one another to avoid confusion. Warning signs, for instance, normally appear in a triangle.

AVOIDING ABSOLUTE

JUDGMENT LIMITS

Several sensory dimensions— such as pitch, volume, or color—should be offered to aid the user’s judgment.

MINIMIZING INFORMATION

ACCESS COST

Information that is accessed most often should be at hand so that the user does not have to spend too much time finding it.

MOVING PARTS

Any parts that move should synchronize with the user’s expectation—a forward button, for instance, should move in the same direction as the moving part.

How users first perceive the information in front of them—it must be presented in an unambiguous way.

How the design aligns with the mental model of its user—people usually interpret a display based on their experience of similar systems.

How accessible and easy to process the information is, even in a distracting environment.

How it reinforces a user’s preexisting memory, acting as an aid to recall rather than forcing the user to store information within reach in their working memory.

REDUNDANCY GAIN

Presenting a message in more than one way (such as an extra brake light) enhances its impact.

PROXIMITY COMPATIBILITY

Relevant or linked information, like three brake lights, should be displayed close together.

CONSISTENCY

Information should be presented consistently to ensure a user knows how to interpret it—for example, on traffic lights, red always means “stop.”

PICTORIAL REALISM

A display should convey information graphically—for example, if the level of fuel has gone down, the fuel gauge should also go down.

TOP-DOWN PROCESSING

The expectations of the user based on past experience

should be met—for example, a user expects to press a button to turn something on.

LEGIBLE DISPLAY

Dials and backlit information must be clear, with contrasting colors and a large enough font size for the information

to be read easily.

KNOWLEDGE OF

THE WORLD

Showing information means the user does not

have to rely as much on memory.

MULTIPLE RESOURCES

Information should be delivered through more than one medium—satellite navigation systems use a voice as well as a screen.

PREDICTIVE AIDING

Users should be helped to predict a course of movement, such as where a traffic jam is expected to be, so they can be proactive.

What is it?

Eliminating human error may be an impossible goal, but HFE psychology is dedicated to reducing it as much as possible through strategic changes to the design of workplace machines and displays

and the way in which people handle information. Error reduction is especially relevant for situations in which the risk of death is high, such as road-traffic control centers, nuclear power facilities, hospitals, airplane flights, and war zones.

What went wrong?

Most accidents in these industries result from human error. In commercial aviation, for example, failure to load the aircraft correctly, air traffic control mistakes, and errors pilots make in operating the

Skill-based error (action error)

Trained worker who loses concentration or is distracted making an unintentional error during a routine task carried out perfectly many times before

Mistake

Worker inadequately trained for the situation making a poor decision: doing the wrong thing while believing it to be right

Rule-based mistake

Uses the wrong set of rules

Ignores a genuine alarm after numerous false ones

Fails to initiate a rule in timeApplies a poorly conceived rule

airplane’s controls or assessing weather conditions are the most likely causes of accidents.

In studying past errors and the sequence of human action leading up to them, psychologists have concluded that wrong decisionmaking is usually because of a lack of situation awareness. Therefore, a primary aim of HFE psychologists is to enhance such awareness. This includes a person’s ability to perceive his or her environment accurately, comprehend what is happening, and predict an outcome.

TRAFFIC PSYCHOLOGY

Some HFE psychologists specialize in the study of how drivers behave on the road and respond to traffic management. The areas this covers include behavior and accident research, which looks at age and personality as accident risk factors; traffic enforcement strategies; and driver rehabilitation programs. Studying the role played by stress, tiredness, phone use, alcohol, and other factors helps psychologists understand what causes accidents.

TRAFFIC SAFETY TRAINING and education helps to keep people safe on the roads.

HUMAN ERROR

Knowledge-based mistake

Lacks the knowledge to deal with the task

Develops a solution that does not work

Applies trial and error to a task

IN THE POLICE FORCE

Real-world contributions from forensic psychologists who help track down criminals are less dramatic than they appear on TV, but they have helped open the door to a kind of investigative psychology that serves many aspects of the criminal investigation process.

Selecting police candidates

Psychologists perform evaluations of prospective police officers to see if they have the qualities needed for the job. They use psychological tests and interviews and can offer recommendations.

Managing information systems

They help to establish effective systems for collecting, organizing, and making sense of the vast quantities of information and paperwork associated with

a criminal case.

Conducting interviews

They use their expert knowledge of the human mind and patterns of behavior to refine interview processes. They can detect when people are lying or hiding the truth by analyzing and interpreting words, facial expressions, intonation, and body language.

Linking crimes to suspects

Their analysis of police evidence can be used to identify patterns that link offenses to culprits.

“Punishment is not for revenge, but to lessen crime and reform the criminal.”

Elizabeth Fry, British prison reformer

CYBERCRIME

In recent decades, psychologists have had to extend their expertise to cover the increasing occurrence of Internet-based crime.

Who is involved?

Terrorists, hackers, and malware developers thrive on the anonymity of the Internet. However, forensic psychologists are specifically trained to search for individuals whose identities are not known.

To do so, they use psychological profiles of known perpetrators to narrow down their list of suspects— because certain crimes attract certain kinds of criminals.

Phishers, who fake e-mail messages to access personal information, tend to be motivated by money only.

Political/religious hackers

are less interested in money than in disrupting the computers of their enemies.

Insiders are typically individuals who have been fired from or demoted within an organization.

How are psychologists involved?

Books and films rarely depict the labor-intensive work involved in most criminal investigations. If there is no obvious suspect, detectives must review a vast amount of information from records of previous crimes or criminals to surveillance recordings; photographs of crime scenes; and interviews with victims, witnesses, and suspects. A forensic psychologist’s understanding of criminal behavior and the motivation behind it can be invaluable in collating and analyzing this material.

If a crime scene does not yield specific evidence, psychologists can create a profile from the forensic data that is collected, which may link a person or their behavior to the crime (p.198). Their knowledge of psychological disorders and the behavior patterns associated with them can also assist in the identification of suspects. They can use incisive interview techniques to ascertain as much as possible from a witness or suspect. A psychologist can also

use their understanding of human behavior and the fallibility of human memory to help ascertain whether a person is telling the truth or is covering for someone.

A LIE DETECTOR, OR POLYGRAPH, can detect an individual’s responses to questioning and can be effective in supporting the case of an innocent person.

COGNITIVE INTERVIEW TECHNIQUE

Interviews—whether of victims, eyewitnesses, or suspects— are central to criminal investigations and are an area where the expertise of a forensic psychologist is invaluable. The cognitive interview uses a specific method of questioning that in the hands of a skilled psychologist can actually help improve a person’s memory of an event. The person needs to feel safe, and the interviewer must be patient, pose the questions in the right way, and allow sufficient time for a response. Some people do not respond to this type of interview, in which case the investigators may need to try a different approach.

A safe environment for the witness is established to ensure a sense of mutual understanding. If the interviewer actively and attentively listens to what the interviewee is saying, even asking them about their general activities

and feelings that day, the interviewee will relax and trust the interviewer enough to talk freely.

Free-form recollection is encouraged by posing open-ended questions rather than ones that require yes/no answers. The interviewer must not interrupt

the interviewee’s response, and allow for plenty of breaks to give them the time to remember events more clearly.

A conducive context is created, for example by describing the background of the event(s) being recalled, which can strengthen an interviewee’s memory.

Patience is maintained throughout, especially if the interviewee is uncooperative. It is essential for an interviewer to keep frustration and feelings of coercion in check to avoid the interviewee making a false confession.

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