May 22

User error: replace user and press any key to continue.

-- Popular computer one-liner

 
 

Featured chapter

Read the fascinating history of Wearable Computing, told by its father, Steve Mann

Read Steve's chapter !

 
 

Help us help you!

 
 

J. Bradley Cummings

Add description
Add publication

Publications by J. Bradley Cummings (bibliography)

 what's this?
1995
 
Edit | Del

Leonard, S. David, Cummings, J. Bradley and Barton, Adam H. (1995): Hazards May Result from Failures of Conceptual Agreement. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 39th Annual Meeting 1995. p. 931.

Burned flesh resulting from overly hot water is a common household injury. Often this results from an incorrect setting of the temperature control of the water heater. It was hypothesized this occurs because many untrained individuals do not know the correlation of skin sensation to water temperature. Thus individuals setting the temperature may be mislead by the terms used on the control. The term "medium" on the control may be associated with 140-, because the maker of the control considers the range of possible physical temperatures the heater can produce and divides that range into low, medium and high. A survey of how individuals interpreted temperature settings of water was performed. The respondents were asked to rate different temperatures as warm, medium, or hot, and to indicate what Fahrenheit temperatures they would associate with words such as hot, scalding, and so forth. The data indicate users tend to interpret words such as "medium" as applied to temperature in terms of their sensations. Thus it might be applied to a sensation of warmth that they considered "just right." Further, many individuals have little idea of the correspondence between their sensations and the actual temperature (some indicated 40' as an appropriate temperature for a baby's bath). Manufacturers, on the other hand, apparently define medium as the middle of the range of possible temperatures. The results are discussed in terms of the need to determine how the meaning of concepts relating temperature and controls may be expressed in terms understood by the user.

© All rights reserved Leonard et al. and/or Human Factors Society

1994
 
Edit | Del

Leonard, S. David and Cummings, J. Bradley (1994): Influence on Ratings of Risk for Consumer Products. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 38th Annual Meeting 1994. pp. 451-455.

Previous studies have suggested many persons do not know the meanings of many terms commonly used as stand alone descriptions of hazards. Studies (Leonard&Digby, 1992; Leonard&Hill, 1993) have shown that the same hazard description, for example flammable, associated with different products resulted in very different perceptions of risk. The present study eliminated anchoring effects that may have resulted from using separate categories by combining 13 different products into a single set for both rating and ranking. The results were consonant with previous findings in that a low correlation between subjective impressions and physical characteristics was found. Subjects in a second study who received a demonstration of some of the products' flammability significantly changed their ratings. The discussion involved consideration of how cognitive information may be developed.

© All rights reserved Leonard and Cummings and/or Human Factors Society

 
Add publication
Show this list on your homepage
 
 

Join the technology elite and advance:

 
1.

Your career

 
2.

Your network

 
 3.

Your skills

 
 
 
 
 
 

Changes to this page (author)

10 Feb 2010: Modified
27 Jun 2007: Added
26 Jun 2007: Added

Page Information

Page maintainer: The Editorial Team
URL: http://www.interaction-design.org/references/authors/j__bradley_cummings.html
May 22

User error: replace user and press any key to continue.

-- Popular computer one-liner

 
 

Featured chapter

Read the fascinating history of Wearable Computing, told by its father, Steve Mann

Read Steve's chapter !

 
 

Help us help you!