Entrepreneurship
Psychology 344
Human Factors
Fall 2021
Course Description:
According to the Course Catalog:
"The application and evaluation of psychological principles and research relating human behavior to the design of tools, technology, and the work environment."
According to the Syllabus:
"The course provides a survey of Human Factors Psychology with particular reference to human functions in human-machine systems. We consider basic human capabilities and the ways that these capabilities are taken into account in the design of human-machine systems and work environments.
The coursework in this 15-week class consisted of weekly quizzes, 6 brief assignments, and 4 exams. The weekly quizzes required making a brief (1-2 minute) video answering a question pertaining to the course work that week. The brief assignments due throughout the semester required finding examples of both good and bad designs and using the course material to explain their attributes or faults. Both the quiz videos and some design examples can be seen below. The subjects discussed throughout the semester include:
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Research methods in human factors
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Methods of evaluation
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Visual displays
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Tactile displays
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Olfactory displays
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Auditory displays
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Vestibular function
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Decision making
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Motor skills and control
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Anthropometry
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Biometrics
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Human Error
Example of work:
Skills Learned:
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Communicate verbally
This class emphasizes verbal communication because the weekly quizzes (4 of which I have uploaded above) are in the form of a short 1-3 minute video. I had to perfect the ability to communicate the information necessary in a short and to-the-point form. Over this semester, I felt as though I had mastered the ability to communicate verbally.
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Demonstrate technical knowledge
Some of the technical knowledge I gained and was able to demonstrate in this course includes: the history of human factors, effective visual, auditory, olfactory and tactile design, decision making, research methods, methods of evaluation, and knowledge on memory, attention, and multi-tasking.
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Decision-making skills
One of the most important skills I learned from this class is effective decision-making. In this class, I learned about both the normative approach to decision-making as well as descriptive model of decision-making. These methods included the expected value (utility) theory, the subjective expected theory, compensatory decision-making, and naturalistic decision-making. I also learned about the many biases and heuristics which are commonly used by humans in decision-making processes such as the elimination by aspects heuristic, framing effects, satisficing, the availability heuristic, representative heuristic, confirmation bias, hindsight bias, anchoring, cue saliency, and overconfidence. I believe learning this knowledge will greatly aid me in my future career endeavors.
Looking towards the future:
This LeADERS course immensely helped me understand how humans interact with the design of machines, websites, interfaces, and other elements of the world around us. This will aid me in the future because I will be able to analyze my work and be able to determine if there are flaws or if it will be misconstrued or misinterpreted in some way by either coworkers, customers, or employers. Knowing the psychological principles that goes into the development of websites, for instance, helped me to make this portfolio look pleasing to the eye and easy to understand and to use. My future goals of working in Human Resources, Law Enforcement, or Government will be aided by the information I used in this course because I will be able to effectively make decisions and interact with the systems already in place at my future job.