https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGQmdoK_ZfY
Human Factors Engineering
HFE is an inter-disciplinary field which applies knowledge
of human performance capabilities and limitations to the
design of the safe, efficient and robust work systems.
Human Factors Engineering
Man+ machine
System
Human Factors Engineering
Socio-Cultural
factors
Organization
Practices / culture
System = Operators + Machine
Man+ machine
Physical
User
+
User + Product
& cognitive
System
Product/Service
limitations
Human-Human Environmental
Interaction
& Task constraints
NUDGE: Influencing Behavior
Our observable behavior falls into three categories:
– in routine context, when our actions are automatic
(without thinking).
Rule based
-- when operating according to procedures we have learned
and/or in situations we expected
Knowledge based -- when operating in unfamiliar situations
Skill based
Simplified Model of Human Information Processing
Detect
External Stimuli
• Visual
• Auditory
• Tactile
• Olfactory
• Taste
Recognize
Decide
Respond
Feedback
Feed-forward
• Information seeking behavior/strategies and responses are driven by end goals
Behavior
Knowledge-based
Improvisation in unfamiliar environment
Conscious
Effortful
No rules for handling situation
Rule- based
“pre-packaged’
actions when appropriate rule is
Rule Based-based
applied
If symptoms are Y then Problem is X
If Problem is X, then do Z
Skill-Based
Automatic Response requiring little conscious
attention
(Rasmussen, 1983; Reason, 1990; Embrey, 2003)
Automatic
Effortless
Experts and non-experts differ in the way they process information and perform tasks
Airspeed
Artificial
Horizon
Turn
coordinator
Heading
Altitude
Power
Setting
Vertical
Speed
8
Information seeking behavior/strategies and responses are driven by end goals
Instructor Pilot
Trainee Pilot
Instrument scan patterns of instructor and trainee pilot when performing
the same flight task.
9
NUDGE: Influencing Behavior
•
•
•
•
•
What behavior are you trying to influence?
How much do you know about the root cause of your customers’ current
behavior?
How do you overcome habits?
To what extent are you prepared to influence your customers?
Push or Nudge?
What behavior are you trying to influence?
What do you use to “nudge”?
High
Cost of
Non-compliance
Low
Subtle
Forceful
NUDGE
Using Physical Design to influence behavior
Getting people to interact: Influencing behavior with
physical infrastructure
“Our building, which is Steve Jobs's brainchild, is another way we try to get
people from different departments to interact. Most buildings are designed
for some functional purpose, but ours is structured to maximize inadvertent
encounters. At its center is a large atrium, which contains the cafeteria,
meeting rooms, bathrooms, and mailboxes. As a result, everyone has
strong reasons to go there repeatedly during the course of the workday. It's
hard to describe just how valuable the resulting chance encounters are.”
Ed Catmull
co-founder & CEO of Pixar
13
Reduction of anxiety in young patients
Photo © Gina Reiman
http://www.coroflot.com/public/individual_file.asp?individual_id=58667&portfolio_id=965415
While in the waiting room, the child has the opportunity to interact with the
"Philips Kitten Scan,“…... The kid-sized scanner was designed by Philips to
provide children with an opportunity to use a scanner themselves and learn
how it works to help ease their minds about their own exam.
Litterati.org: Eliminating littering using social media
“The Digital Landfill is a photo gallery showcasing the different pieces of litter
being picked up, and the overall impact of the movement. With geo-tagging,
we're able to provide insight into problem areas and highlight the most active
Litterati communities. Keyword tags on the photos help identify those brands
and products that generate the most litter. We'll use this to work with
companies and organizations to find environmentally friendly and sustainable
solutions”. http://litterati.org/cause.php
http://litterati.org/cause.php
Some behaviors are not so easy to change….
http://www.unmultimedia.org/radio/english/2012/08/anti-tobacc
o-ruling-in-australia-welcomed-by-un-health-agency/
What do we have to overcome here?
Are people more respectful of these markings?
Cultural factors
… National culture
…. Organization culture
… Professional culture
Unique professional/social “culture” exerts strong influence
on the way we behave
– individual efforts / team coordination
– rules & regular training to reduce risks and promote safety in
extreme conditions
– Well-practised routines  heuristics
http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1350315/pla-officials-and-mediatour-us-aircraft-carrier
http://www.army.mil/article/53883/
“Cockpit design and cross-cultural issues underlying failures in
crew resource management”
Harris, D & Li, WC
Aviation, Space & Environmental Medicine 2008 May;79(5):537-8.
“Cultural factors and the International Space Station”
Jennifer Boyd Ritsher (2005)
in Aviation, Space & Environmental Medicine; 76 (6, Suppl.):B135–44.
NUDGING: Who should be involved?
How is the design translated
into reality?
Does your organization culture
facilitate the effort?
How are NUDGE designs translated into reality?
Sometimes “designs” have unintended outcomes
Designer “invites”
driver to block
pedestrian
pathway
Pedestrians
are ‘forced’ to stay on
path that is blocked
Handrails ‘stop’ at the
point where they are
most needed.
122c
m
80c
m
Photos 1, 4 & diagram provided by courtesy of Sebastian Chua
and Photos 1, 4 Lim Youxiang
The tree that grew in the middle of the path
??
Do these signs solve the problem of slippery floors?
NUDGING: At which point do you start?
At a superficial level, one may ask “Why such bad
designs?” Solution: Fix the designs
But going a little deeper, one may ask “What kind
of management allows/approves these designs
in the first place?” Solution: ??
Yet much more deeply, one may ask, “What
institutions train these managers and
engineers?” Solution: ??
Nudge: Influencing Behavior
Are we eliminating the symptoms or the
cause?
Thank You
Postscript
" NUDGE programmes are efforts to influence people in an non-intrusive and
surreptitious way. To be effective, people working on NUDGE programmes should be
familiar with how fellow humans process and respond to different stimuli (e.g., whatever
is being utilized to NUDGE behavior), and why/how humans are motivated to behave
the way they do. As the Gorilla video had demonstrated, people are very good at
blanking out (ignoring/not processing) irrelevant stimuli. What this means is that merely
presenting info front and centre before the target audience exhorting them to behave in
a certain way is not sufficient. There must be something extra in the stimuli which is not
only attention grabbing but must also make people want to change their unthinking
behavior i.e., habits. However, this is only part of the challenge in a NUDGE
programme. Making the desired behavior change a lasting one is not easy. Take NUS
staff and students' tray clearing behavior in the engineering canteen and the adjacent
McDonald's as an example. That NUS staff and students clear their tables in the
canteen does not necessary lead to their clearing their tables in McDonald's. Can we
then say that the 'table clearing' practice is imbued in us?
Cultures are shared values and beliefs. Cultures shape people's behavior. People
behave in ways condoned or dictated by the prevailing culture. As much as
organizations want to influence the behavior of their customers, an organization's own
"culture" will also influence the outcome of its NUDGE programme(s). The bad designs I
highlighted in my presentation reveal the organizations' lack of familiarity with delivering
customer-centric services as well as a lack of management oversight over how the
various functions in the organizations work together (contrast these organizations with
say, KTP Hospital or the CRM programmes in aviation and space flights). Because of
the disconnects in and between the organizations, attempts at NUDGE programmes by
these organizations, no matter how well conceived upstream, are unlikely to be
successful as the delivery will be flawed by those responsible for the execution of the
programmes. I'll end with two questions:
I) who nudges the "nudger"?
ii) Are we treating the symptoms or the causes?
16 Dec 2013