Human Factors Psychology: Scientific Reasoning in an Interdisciplinary Field

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Human Factors is a rapidly growing application of psychology in industry. As products are developed, human factors psychologists assist in planning product design to maximize the fit of product to user. Integrating human factors considerations into design can yield such advantages as shortening the learning period, enhancing reliability of performance, or minimizing accidents associated with product use. The productivity of such interdisciplinary collaborations between psychology and engineering has led to increased demand for people trained in this field. Up to this point, human factors programs in psychology have been concentrated at the graduate level. Undergraduate course offerings in human factors are rare, and appropriate laboratory training in the field is even less likely. However, laboratory-based training in human factors at the undergraduate level offers a unique opportunity to develop skills in scientific reasoning in an interdisciplinary field with clear application to everyday life. This project focuses on building a human factors laboratory for training undergraduate students. The lab consists of computer workstations, including equipment and software specialized for human factors investigations. The human factors course introduces students to issues and concepts in the field and emphasizes lab work as a context in which students learn the hypothesis-testing process relevant to human factors questions. Students who complete the course are eligible to work with interdisciplinary design teams completing projects under contract from local industries in the Science and Engineering Project Center at Seattle University. The lab is an ideal location to test hypotheses about designs generated in these team projects. Students trained in this program will be especially strong candidates for either employment or graduate study in this field.