Aviation Psychology Research Paper

This sample Aviation Psychology Research Paper is published for educational and informational purposes only. Free research papers are not written by our writers, they are contributed by users, so we are not responsible for the content of this free sample paper. If you want to buy a high quality research paper on any topic at affordable price please use custom research paper writing services.

Abstract

Aviation psychology is a simple name for a deceptively broad multidisciplinary applied domain. Its goal is plain: understanding and improving human performance in aviation. As a formal discipline, it draws on other established areas of psychology and engineering. For example, within the discipline of psychology, aspects of applied, experimental, social, clinical, industrial, organizational, and engineering specializations have been incorporated into aviation psychology.

Outline

History
Scope and Extent of the Domain
Sources of Basic Principles and Theoretical Approaches
Applications and Ongoing Issues
Education and Training
Occupations and Employment

1. History

The origins of aviation psychology are nearly as old as powered flight. Whether it played a role in the selection of the Wright Flyer’s first pilot on the sands of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, a century ago is debatable. Lindbergh’s self-account of his 33-hour transatlantic crossing in the Spirit of St. Louis in 1927 is among the earliest accounts of the effects of sustained wakefulness on pilot performance. However, aviation psychology is generally described as having its formal beginning coincident with the increased military use of aviation in the two world wars. During those times, there was a fundamental need to rapidly select and adequately train the pilots required to fly the fighters, bombers, and transport airplanes for the war efforts. As aviation became increasingly important to worldwide commerce, and with the advent of the space program, aviation psychology as a discipline expanded during the postwar years. This expansion paralleled technological advances that increased the complexity of some facets of aviation and the continuing need to understand human performance capabilities and limitations in these domains. Several detailed recent reviews of the domain exist that expand on the history and basic applications in this area.

2. Scope And Extent Of The Domain

Enhancing pilot performance is a major focus of aviation psychology; however, its reach in aviation extends far beyond pilots. For example, early efforts of aviation psychologists included enhancing the training of aircraft gunners and selection of aircraft mechanics. Aviation psychology focuses on understanding the operator’s basic limitations and needs. Basic needs for optimal performance typically include adequate selection and training, sufficient real-time information, appropriate human–machine interfaces and equipment, and compensated environmental conditions. The scope of aviation psychology has generally kept pace with the rapid expansion of aviation itself since the advent of powered flight.

The National Airspace System is described on the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Web site as ‘‘a complex collection of systems, procedures, facilities, aircraft, and .. . people [that] represents the overall environment for the safe operation of aircraft.’’ With its focus on the people and equipment involved in this complex system, aviation psychology is broad in scope but singular in purpose: to understand and promote optimal human performance. Aviation psychologists have contributed to our knowledge of human performance in both civilian and military applications. They have examined and sought ways in which to improve the performance of pilots, flight attendants, mechanics, air traffic controllers, and ground support personnel. It is clear that aviation psychologists now also have an important contribution to make in the study of human performance factors in civil aviation security, for example, in selecting and training security screening personnel and in identifying methods to augment and support human search capabilities during repetitive inspection tasks.

A peer-reviewed journal, the International Journal of Aviation Psychology, serves as a central focus for the dissemination of research in this area, and a survey of its contents can quickly provide a comprehensive overview of this area. Other professional journals, such as Human Factors (published by the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society) and Aviation, Space, and Environmental Medicine (published by the Aerospace Medical Association), also contain work by aviation psychologists. In the latter case, there are some who may be more appropriately titled ‘‘aerospace psychologists’’ given that their focus involves understanding human performance in space-related applications such as low-g environments and crew coordination issues during long-duration space flights.

3. Sources Of Basic Principles And Theoretical Approaches

Aviation psychology draws on basic principles, findings, and tenets from other specialized domains of psychology, sociology, physiology, and human factors. For example, knowledge of sensory processes, memory limitations, psychomotor skills, and cognitive functioning translates directly to the aviation environment and can be used to optimize the design of instruments, procedures, and warning devices. Other areas of experimental and cognitive psychology that provide insight into attention and decision making also contribute to aviation psychology in areas such as evaluating instrument scan behavior, understanding visual detection capabilities for pilots (or inspectors detecting defects in manufacturing/maintenance inspection processes), and aeronautical decision-making skills. Finally, knowledge of basic human performance capabilities under exposure to noise, vibration, motion, and altitude facilitates aviation psychologists’ understanding of human capabilities and limitations.

Methods derived from industrial, organizational, and educational psychology can aid in the selection and training of aviation personnel. Components from cognitive psychology, social psychology, and sociology can contribute to the study of crew coordination and cultural factors in aviation. For example, cultural factors in aviation are not just associated with design stereotypes for the movement of controls and switches. They also include crew coordination issues that can vary across cultures, include variations in the acceptance of automated technology, and can even affect the coordination of operating practices when airlines merge.

Physiological psychology has contributed to the measurement of workload and assessment of fatigue in aviation environments. Although few operational examples of the former exist, the use of physiological measures to infer the state of operators has taken place in basic and applied aviation research environments. These include traditional measures such as heart rate and electroencephalogram (EEG). In addition, eye movements have been used to study operator scan patterns for complex displays or while performing aviation-related tasks.

There are few, if any, theoretical approaches unique to aviation psychology. Instead, basic theories generated elsewhere are applicable to basic and applied questions in aviation. Some theoretical or worldview approaches are especially salient as applied to the aviation environment. For example, information processing theories that outline and predict how operators process information from the environment and manage conditions of increasing workload are useful in evaluating aviation work environments to ensure that workload and capabilities are not exceeded. Also, during recent years, significant effort has been focused on understanding and establishing theoretical and methodological approaches to the study of situation awareness, that is, how operators learn about and keep track of critical features in their environment, such as their position in space and time, and the current and future status of systems. Theoretical models for the acquisition and maintenance of situation awareness by personnel involved in aviation tasks have been developed, although acceptance of their utility is not universal.

Aviation psychology presents a unique application and research environment. However, with few exceptions (e.g., operations in extreme environments, operations under conditions of g loading, specific examination of flight or domain-specific tasks such as the visual processes involved in landing), knowledge, methods, and concepts derived elsewhere in psychology and engineering can readily translate to applications and research questions in this area. For additional information on the basic tenets, principles, and theoretical approaches used by aviation psychologists, there exist recent compendiums of work outlining these issues from both historical and contemporary perspectives.

4. Applications And Ongoing Issues

Aviation psychology is an incremental and evolving discipline that is generally responsive to the dynamic challenges it faces as aviation itself continues to evolve.

Following are some of the areas of inquiry in which aviation psychologists are engaged.

4.1. Error Management

Studies and training methods for crew coordination have evolved from attending static personality and ‘‘charm school’’ sessions to delivering strategies for the prompt identification and timely recovery from human errors that are inevitable. Work continues on determining optimal methods for enhancing crew coordination and error management, on developing instructional methods for distributing these error management concepts through technical training, and on reinforcing during routine operations through robust procedures.

4.2. Decision Making and High-Stress Situations

Research continues on understanding how personnel in the aviation environment arrive at decisions under conditions of stress, often having limited information. Some of these efforts are targeted to developing methods to enhance pilot decision making and judgment. Other efforts examine factors that affect human performance in stressful situations such as passengers evacuating an airplane under an emergency situation.

4.3. Fatigue Countermeasures

Substantial work in the area of fatigue has been performed by aviation psychologists at the National Aeronautical and Space Administration (NASA) Ames Research Center, and work continues to better understand the effects of fatigue on aviation operations. Research conducted by the FAA has looked at shiftwork and fatigue in air traffic control operations. Aviation psychologists working for the military have examined scheduling practices and pharmacological countermeasures to mitigate the effects of fatigue in military aviation.

4.4. Automation and Human– Machine Interfaces

The study of human interaction with automation remains a dominant focus for many aviation psychologists. The use of automated aids is increasing in both air carrier and general aviation, and this trend is expected to continue with the refinement of more complex aircraft system status displays, horizontal and vertical navigation displays, airport situation awareness displays, highway in-the-sky flight path aids, and the like. Automated aids are also increasingly being applied to other aviation operations such as air traffic control and maintenance.

4.5. New Training Technologies

Simulators have found widespread use in the training of air carrier flight crews. Methods for enhancing the training environment using these tools continue to be evaluated. The use of computer-based training and part task simulators is also spreading to other areas of aviation, including general aviation and maintenance technicians. Ensuring that the transfer of training effects is positive and predictable will continue to be a focus for aviation psychologists.

4.6. Accident Reduction

Methods to study human error in accidents continue to be examined to identify broad causal factors common to multiple accidents for which targeted intervention strategies could be applied. Strategies for this work include the use of surveys, the use of simulator studies, and review of accident data.

4.7. Maintenance and Other Aviation Applications

Some areas that have received relatively less attention in the past, as compared with flight deck and pilot issues, are receiving increasing attention by aviation psychologists. These include maintenance and ground support personnel, and recent accidents have shown that human error in these areas can also yield catastrophic outcomes. Strategies for increasing performance on the flight deck, such as crew resource management, are being translated to optimize performance by operators in these areas. Similarly, additional focus is being placed on the information needs of maintenance personnel to complement work done previously to examine environmental and ergonomics needs.

5. Education And Training

Because of the multidisciplinary characteristics of aviation psychology, there is no single training or education path to become an aviation psychologist (although for decades some institutions, such as the University of Illinois and Ohio State University, have produced professionals who made significant contributions in this area). Like the applied domain of human factors, successful performance in aviation psychology requires a professional who has developed a strong grounding in basic psychological principles, experimental methodology, and basic familiarity with engineering concepts. Creativity and the ability to adapt are essential traits that facilitate interaction with experts from the many facets of aviation, and formulation of strategies to cope with the short-cycle time periods (from question to required answer) characteristic of many issues aviation psychologists may be called on to study.

Equally important to becoming an effective aviation psychologist is a strong interest in, some observational experience in, or (optimally) direct experience in an operational facet of aviation (e.g., holding a pilot certificate). This experience will also help to facilitate communication with subject matter experts and provide the aviation psychologist with practical knowledge that will augment his or her professional training in a chosen area of psychology or in an allied discipline. Aviation has many regulatory and procedural boundaries that have been established by regulators, manufacturers, companies, and labor groups. These areas, whether they involve hours of service regulations for pilots or the maintenance and inspection routine, should be mastered to the extent possible for an aviation psychologist to contribute optimally.

6. Occupations And Employment

Aviation psychologists can be found employed by organizations in and on the periphery of the aerospace industry. For example, they are employed by agencies such as NASA, the FAA, and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) in the federal government and are involved in basic research, certification, design, oversight, and safety investigations. In addition, most branches of the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) have similar areas in which aviation psychologists are employed to facilitate military aviation. In the private sector, aviation psychologists are employed by manufacturers, airlines, and private research institutions. Academia is another area where aviation psychologists can be found working on basic and applied research questions, often funded by DoD, NASA, and/or FAA grants and projects.

References:

Billings, C. (1997). Aviation automation: The search for a human-centered approach. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Caldwell, J. A., & Gilreath, S. R. (2002). A survey of aircrew fatigue in a sample of U.S. Army aviation personnel. Aviation, Space, and Environmental Medicine, 73, 472–480.
Dismukes, R. K. (1994). Aviation human factors research in U.S. universities: Potential contributions to national needs. International Journal of Aviation Psychology, 4, 315–331.
Endsley, M. R. (1995). Toward a theory of situation awareness in dynamic systems. Human Factors, 37, 32–64.
Flach, J. M. (1995). Situation awareness: Proceed with caution. Human Factors, 27, 149–157.
Garland, D. J., Wise, J. A., & Hopkins, V. D. (Eds.). (1999). Handbook of aviation human factors. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Guilford, J. P. (1948). Some lessons from aviation psychology. American Psychologist, 3, 3–11.
Helmreich, R. L., & Merritt, A. C. (1998). Culture at work in aviation and medicine: National, organizational, and professional influences. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate.
Koonce, J. M. (1984). A brief history of aviation psychology. Human Factors, 26, 499–508.
O’Hare, D., & Chalmers, D. (1999). The incidence of incidents: A nationwide study of flight experience and exposure to accidents and incidents. International Journal of Aviation Psychology, 9(1), 1–18.
O’Hare, D., & Lawrence, B. (2000). The shape of aviation psychology: A review of research papers published in the first 5 years of the International Journal of Aviation Psychology. International Journal of Aviation Psychology, 10(1), 1–11.
Salas, E., Burke, C. S., Bowers, C. A., & Wilson, K. A. (2001). Team training in the skies: Does crew resource management (CRM) training work? Human Factors, 43, 641–674.
Tsang, P. S., & Vidulich, M. A. (2002). Principles and practices of aviation psychology. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Wickens, C. D. (1992). Engineering psychology and human performance (2nd ed.). New York: HarperCollins.
Wickens, C. D., & Andre, A. D. (1999). Psychology applied to aviation. In A. M. Stec, & D. A. Bernstein (Eds.), Psychology: Fields of application (pp. 184–198). Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Wilson, G. F. (Ed.). (2002). Flight psychophysiology [special issue]. International Journal of Aviation Psychology, 12(1).
Zsambok, C. E., & Klein, G. (Eds.). (1997). Naturalistic decision making. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.