Title

Individual Differences in Response to Automation: The Five Factor Model of Personality

Authors

Authors

J. L. Szalma;G. S. Taylor

Comments

Authors: contact us about adding a copy of your work at STARS@ucf.edu

Abbreviated Journal Title

J. Exp. Psychol.-Appl.

Keywords

automation; individual differences; performance; stress; workload; INTERPERSONAL-TRUST; SUSTAINED ATTENTION; MENTAL WORKLOAD; STRESS; PERFORMANCE; HISTORY; Psychology, Applied

Abstract

This study examined the relationship of operator personality (Five Factor Model) and characteristics of the task and of adaptive automation (reliability and adaptiveness-whether the automation was well-matched to changes in task demand) to operator performance, workload, stress, and coping. This represents the first investigation of how the Five Factors relate to human response to automation. One-hundred-sixty-one college students experienced either 75% or 95% reliable automation provided with task loads of either two or four displays to be monitored. The task required threat detection in a simulated uninhabited ground vehicle (UGV) task. Task demand exerted the strongest influence on outcome variables. Automation characteristics did not directly impact workload or stress, but effects did emerge in the context of trait-task interactions that varied as a function of the dimension of workload and stress. The pattern of relationships of traits to dependent variables was generally moderated by at least one task factor. Neuroticism was related to poorer performance in some conditions, and all five traits were associated with at least one measure of workload and stress. Neuroticism generally predicted increased workload and stress and the other traits predicted decreased levels of these states. However, in the case of the relation of Extraversion and Agreeableness to Worry, Frustration, and avoidant coping, the direction of effects varied across task conditions. The results support incorporation of individual differences into automation design by identifying the relevant person characteristics and using the information to, determine what functions to automate and the form and level of automation.

Journal Title

Journal of Experimental Psychology-Applied

Volume

17

Issue/Number

2

Publication Date

1-1-2011

Document Type

Article

Language

English

First Page

71

Last Page

96

WOS Identifier

WOS:000291759700001

ISSN

1076-898X

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