Keywords

Ecological validity, External validity, Human performance, Noise, Stress, Time pressure

Abstract

Recent stressful environments within military and non-military domains are producing a new challenge for the lab-based study of stress on task performance, one that requires knowledge of underlying cognitive-motivational and goal orientation factors. Results of recent stress on task performance research traditionally employ metaphorical explanations (i.e., resource theory) in order to rapidly apply stimulus-response outcomes to the real world counterparts. This dissertation provides an alternative perspective about these metaphorical, or black box, interpretations and reveals how they may be confounded with respect to the intended real world counterpart. To examine how voluntary human control can influence traditional stress/no-stress research findings, traditional as well as exploratory paradigms were presented. Both noise and time pressure conditions produced significant differences between experimental and control groups on visual discrimination. However, when analogous cash payment-contingency conditions were employed, the traditional stress/no-stress findings were not evident. In addition, a second experiment revealed that this trend of differences (and non-differences) held consistently over 30 minutes of interrupted task performance time. This study indicates the importance of developing more diagnostic measures that include assessments of how the differences between participants' and the generalized operators' goals and motivations may alter results in stressful task environments.

Notes

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Graduation Date

2004

Semester

Spring

Advisor

Hancock, Peter

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Psychology

Degree Program

Psychology

Format

application/pdf

Identifier

CFE0000019

URL

http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/etd/CFE0000019

Language

English

Release Date

May 2004

Length of Campus-only Access

None

Access Status

Doctoral Dissertation (Open Access)

Subjects

Arts and Sciences -- Dissertations, Academic; Dissertations, Academic -- Arts and Sciences

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Psychology Commons

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