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Abstract
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Elsewhere, I have postulated that each living human being, like other living organisms, is constantly in a state of balance with his particular environment and that the living being and the medium in which he exists at any given moment are an interrelated whole the function of which is dependent upon the integration of its parts. In order to understand the whole, the parts must be defined and understood in terms of their relationship to the whole.
For some time, Dr. Collins' group (see part I) and I have been investigating driver performance. It has been our hypothesis that driving performance is the product of the driver's internal and external environment, The external environment consists of all factors outside of the individual which affect his performance, such as the condition and capacity of the vehicle, or the roadway, or the condition and capacity of the other drivers. The internal environment is made up of all of those factors which are within the driver and which influence the driver. While admittedly arbitrary, we have considered these internal influences to be of three classes: the physiologic states, the personality, and the rate and level of his information Processing. I have postulated that these internal factors are a closed loop and that each influences the other. We have been more concerned with asking questions than with providing answers. Does the individual really drive as he lives? To what extent is driving behavior a function of the physiologic state, the personality type, or the rate and level of information processing? What are the interactions and inter-dependencies of physiologic state, personality type, and information processing? What constitutes the "good driver"? |