|
...reliable automation, resulting in its disuse (Parasuraman Riley, 1997; Wickens & Hollands, 2000). In the case of automated diagnostic aids, such disuse is often manifested in the form of operator disagreements with the aid, even when aided performance is statistically more accurate than unaided performance (Wiegmann, Rich, & Zhang, 2001).
Disuse of automated aids can occur even when systems are opaque (i.e., provide little or no information to the operator upon which to base a diagnosis; Wiegmann, 2002; Wiegmann et al., 2001). For example, handheld analyzers are now commonly used to help airline luggage inspectors detect the presence of hidden contraband such as narcotics and explosives in passenger luggage. Given that luggage is generally opaque, operators must rely almost entirely on the automation to perform this analysis. Although such analyzers are fairly accurate, they do have a tendency to produce false alarms. Consequently, operators generally undertrust these devices and have reportedly ignored analyzer alarms (Parasuraman, Hancock, & Olofinboba, 1997). Anecdotally, operators formulate an opinion concerning the likelihood that a particular passenger might be dangerous and then base their interpretation of the automated alarm based on this hypothesis--a phenomenon known as cognitive anchoring.
Cognitive Anchoring
A great deal of empirical evidence in cognitive and social psychological research suggests that when people are faced with discrepant information after choosing a certain hypothesis, they have a strong tendency to bias their belief revisions in favor of the initially chosen hypothesis (Einhorn & Hogarth, 1982; Hogarth & Einhorn, 1992; Tversky & Kahneman, 1974; Wickens & Hollands, 2000). They often behave as if they have attached a "mental anchor" to the initial hypothesis and do not easily shift it to the alternative, giving the impression that "first impressions are lasting." Likewise, operators of imperfectly reliable automation might attempt to circumvent automation errors by generating their own independent decisions about system states prior to receiving information from the diagnostic aid. Consequently, there may be a strong a tendency for operators to "cognitively anchor" their final decisions onto their initial hypotheses, thus increasing the probability that operators will disagree with an aid that provides alternative information, regardless of the objective accuracy of the aid's diagnoses.
Self-anchoring. Decision makers have an implicit tendency to spontaneously generate their own independent hypotheses about states of the world based on available raw data and to anchor their final decisions onto these initial hypotheses (see Tversky & Kahneman, 1974). However, opaque systems afford automation users little or no access to raw data on which to base diagnostic decision making. Operators' hypotheses about system states are at best intuitive guesses or "hunches." The extent to which users of these opaque systems will independently generate (or guess) their own hypotheses about system states and cognitively anchor their agreements with an automated diagnostic aid onto these initial "hunches" is still unknown.
Automation utilization strategies are often influenced by the interaction of the user's perceived reliability of the automated aid and self-biases (Dzindolet, Pierce, Beck, Dawe, & Anderson, 2001; Lee & Moray, 1992; Riley, 1989). In general, humans tend to underestimate the reliability of imperfect automated aids (see Dzindolet, Pierce, Beck, & Dawe, 2002; Wiegmann et al., 2001). This lowered perceived reliability interacts with the operator's self-biases to lead to the choice of a particular automation utilization strategy. Operators' self-biases may interact differently with perceived reliability depending on whether these biases pertain to specific tasks or are more generic in nature. For example, in the context of opaque systems, the choice of a utilization strategy might be influenced by general biases about one's abilities to generate intuitive guesses or take risks, rather than by one's specific ability to perform the task in the presence of sufficient raw data. Consequently, the tendency to self-generate anchors is likely to be a function of both the perceived reliability of the aid and self-confidence in one's own abilities in a generic sense. A lower perceived reliability of the aid is likely to produce a greater tendency to prediagnose system states prior to receiving information from an aid and, hence, is more likely to produce cognitive anchoring. In contrast, higher estimates of self-confidence and risk-taking tendencies may also increase hypothesis generation and result in a cognitive anchoring effect.
Forced anchoring. Under some conditions, individuals might be required to publicly commit to their diagnosis prior to receiving additional information from other sources. Such might be the case with a physician speaking with a patient during an initial consultation or a luggage inspector declaring to a passenger the detection of contraband in order to justify opening the piece of baggage. Public expressions of a diagnosis can produce cognitive dissonance, or feelings of discomfort, when information that contradicts the original hypothesis is provided (Festinger, 1957). In order to reduce dissonance, an individual often becomes more convinced that his or her original choice or belief was correct and expresses a greater preference for the original belief (Oshikawa, 1970). According to Brehm and Cohen (1962), public commitment to a belief makes it extremely difficult to nullify this dissonance-arousing commitment. Consequently, procedures that require automation users to document their diagnosis prior to...
NOTE: All illustrations and photos
have been removed from this article.
More articles from Human Factors
An evaluation of a "time tunnel" display format for the pres..., June 22, 2005
The efficacy of naps as a fatigue countermeasure: a meta-analytic inte..., June 22, 2005
Effects of visual flow display of flight maneuvers on perceived spatia..., June 22, 2005
Perceptual processes used by drivers during overtaking in a driving si..., June 22, 2005
The form of augmented force-feedback fields and the efficiency and sat..., June 22, 2005
Looking for additional articles?
Search our database of over 3 million articles.
Looking for more in-depth information on this industry?
Search our complete database of Industry & Market reports by text, subject, publication
name or publication date.
About Goliath
Whether you're looking for sales prospects, competitive information, company
analysis or best practices in managing your organization,
Goliath can help you meet your business needs.
Our extensive business information databases empower business
professionals with both the breadth and depth of credible,
authoritative information they need to support their business
goals. Whether it be strategic planning, sales prospecting,
company research or defining management best practices -
Goliath is your leading source for accurate information.
|
