Engineering Psychology Research

 

An engineering psychologist is an applied scientist who develops knowledge concerning the capabilities and limitations of humans to sense, store, process information, and to act. This knowledge is applied to the design, use, and maintenance of human/machine systems.

Depending on its mission, the system is then optimized with respect to human performance. The environmental factors affecting system performance are recognized as important and are considered systematically.

When relevant data are not available, the engineering psychologist must uncover it through research efforts. This requires considerable skill in experimental design and quantitative methodology.

The engineering psychologist is primarily an applied experimental psychologist. For this reason, the foundation areas of study are the various content areas of experimental psychology. Specialized work in engineering psychology is represented by four areas of application:

1. methods in human factors research, including human-computer interaction, for example:

   display-control relationships

2. effects of environmental factors and stressors, for example:

   effects of such variables as noise, lighting, motion, and hazardous environmental ambients on human performance

3. perceptual/motor aspects of systems design
4. human performance and skill, for example:

   evaluation of human performance and its information-processing components

The engineering psychology graduate program has been given full accreditation by the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES).

For more information, see: Engineering Psychology Program