Ten Years Applying Psychological Science Inside the U.K. Government is fascinating. It prompted this post and is at 6. below, but first a back story.
TL;DR. Main points:
- Ron Cumming, my father, pioneered human factors in Australia in the 1960s.
- Human factors, or user-centred design (UCD), is the design of devices and systems to be safe, easy, and effective for users.
- Ron and colleagues persuaded Victorian politicians to pass in 1970 the world’s first compulsory seat belt laws–road fatalities dropped immediately.
- Thaler & Sunstein’s Nudge gave examples of how simple changes in messages and systems can help people make better choices.
- I taught UCD at La Trobe for many years. Students had great fun identifying easy ways to improve the design of everyday things simply by watching and talking to real users. Some tell me they were inspired to go on and work in the field.
- In her fascinating column Ten Years Applying Psychological Science Inside the U.K. Government Carla Groom describes how nudge and UCD ideas can be used to make dramatic improvements to people’s lives. And how psychology PhDs can be effective leaders in such non-academic roles.
User Centred Design
A few examples in the first lecture and the students were saying “this is obvious, why isn’t everything done this way?” Don Norman‘s first few pages prompt the same reaction.
It should be obvious whether a door should be pushed or pulled, without labels. A first project: simply observe people as they approach different doors around campus.
Next, ask someone to open an unfamiliar microwave, or turn on the light on the left, or mute this mobile phone. Ask them to ‘think aloud’ as they approach the task, then watch without interrupting.
No RCT, control group, or fancy statistics required. Watch just a few users before–if you can–redesigning the object or system. Then do it again, and again. But you need real users–old, young, left-handed, neurodiverse, not speaking your language, perhaps disabled…
It can be frustrating. You quickly start noting poor design everywhere: why must I type my email in two different places? Why can’t I dislike all the options? Why do I need my glasses to figure out how to turn on the upper shower? …lots of scope for your psychology students to improve the world!
Landing Aircraft Safely
Ron Cumming, my father, was an aeronautical engineer researching crashes at the most dangerous moment in flying–landing. He decided it was largely a perceptual problem–the pilot perhaps needing to land with no visible horizon and only a single line of lights down one side of the runway.
Ron spent 1960 with human factors guru Paul Fitts at the University of Michigan studying psychology. Then he and psychologist Ross Day introduced human factors (ergonomics) to Australia.
Ron and colleagues developed T-VASIS in the 1960s. It was a simple array of lights each side of the runway that indicated to the pilot whether the aircraft was on the ideal glidepath, or needed to fly up or down a little. It was installed in many countries, and some airfields still offer it, despite the widespread use of modern radar systems.
Leading in Road Safety Was Just the Start
After leading the world with compulsory seat belts, in 1976 Victoria was also first with random breath tests of drivers, with .05 as the alcohol limit. Ron and Ross, as the two psychology professors at Monash University, set up the Monash University Accident Research Centre. The good work of MUARC continues.
In 1987 Victoria set up VicHealth as the world’s first health promotion foundation under legislation claimed to set the standard for international best practice by banning tobacco advertising and diverting those advertising dollars to fund anti-smoking campaigns and buy out tobacco sponsorship of sport and the arts.
In 1988 VicHealth funded launch of SunSmart, with the aim of changing behaviour to increase protection against UV in sunlight and thus reduce skin cancer. For example, with its Slip-Slop-Slap campaign.
These and other public behaviour change programs have saved numerous lives, averted much suffering, and reduced health costs. Psychologists continue to play prominent roles in all these programs.
Carla Groom Diagnosed as Autistic at 44
Dr Carla Groom, the then Head of Human Centred Design Science, U. K. Department of Work and Pensions was interviewed about her later-in-life formal diagnosis as autistic, at age 44. Again she is fascinating, here in recounting how the diagnosis explained for her so much about herself and how she worked.
She tells of the strategies she uses to support other neurodiverse people to be their most effective and, more generally, how she builds diverse–usually multi-disciplinary–teams, which tend to be better at problem solving.
Training PhDs to Be Effective in Non-Academic UCD and Nudge Work
Ten Years Applying Psychological Science Inside the U.K. Government offers lessons for how postgraduate education can be broadened to prepare PhDs to work and lead effectively beyond the academy. Including: study qualitative research methods, learn to write for a general audience as well as for academic journals, work in multi-disciplinary groups, and undertake messy real-world projects.
Such as helping pilots to land safely, or nudging everyone to wear a wide-brimmed hat and apply sunscreen.
Geoff