Citation

Levin IP, Mosell MK, Lamka CM, Savage BE, Gray MJ. Transp. Res. Rec. 1977; 649: 1-7.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1977, Transportation Research Board, National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences USA, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Psychological factors are conceptualized as intervening variables linking system and user characteristics to transportation judgments and decisions. The information-integration approach of experimental psychology was used to measure and assess psychological factors by using simple rating scales and algebraic models of individual decision processes. Two simulation experiments were conducted to illustrate this approach. In the first, perceived safety of highway driving was measured on a bipolar rating scale and shown to vary as a simple algebraic function of factors, such as driving speed, time of day, weather conditions, and number of hours of continued driving. Other judgments involving continued-driving time and reducing driving speed were obtained and shown to be highly related to safety ratings. This supports the idea that psychological factors such as safety can be measured objectively and used to understand and predict traveler behavior. In the second experiment, the desirability of forming car pools was assessed as a function of the number of riders in the pool, the sex of each rider, and the acquaintanceship of the rider and the respondent. The acceptability of a given potential rider was a multiplicative function of sex and acquaintanceship; sex played an important role when the rider was a nonacquaintance. The desirability of a given car pool was an average of the desirability of individual riders, so that a desirable rider would compensate for undesirable riders. The implication of such results to policy makers is discussed, but the need for expanded research is stressed.