664 Psychological Experimentation Addressing Practical Concerns
psychologists and organizations that represent them in seeing
the results of psychological research applied to practical
problems.
Many of the most pressing problems that society faces
have their roots in human behavior. These include problems
of violence and crime, of drug addiction and substance
abuse, of lifestyles that work against the maintenance of
health, and of behavior that causes detrimental environmen-
tal change. There is a need for the development and use of
more effective approaches to education, conflict resolution,
wellness maintenance, and protection of the environment.
The nature of work has changed drastically for many peo-
ple in the recent past, especially with the infusion of informa-
tion technology in many workplaces. More and more jobs
involve the hands-on use of this technology. Changes in job
opportunities and job requirements are driven primarily by
the market and not by considerations of workers’ satisfaction
with what they do. A better understanding is needed of what
makes the difference between jobs and avocational pursuits
that people find fulfilling and deeply satisfying and those that
they find meaningless or acceptable only as a means of mak-
ing a living.
Changing demographics brings some research challenges
as well. The percentage of the U.S. population that is over
65 grew steadily from about 4% in 1900 to about 13% by
the end of the century. The most rapidly growing age group
in terms of percentage is the 85 and older group, which has
been predicted to increase from 1.6% of the U.S. population
in 2000 to about 4.6% by 2050 (World Almanac,1998). Such
changes in population statistics harbor a host of research
challenges, many of which have barely begun to be addressed
(Czaja, 1990).
The increasing concentration of the population in and
around major cities is a worldwide phenomenon (Vining,
1985). Changing immigration patterns (Kasarda, 1988) are
rapidly modifying the ethnic and cultural composition of
many cities and increasing the importance of developing a
better understanding of how best to maintain social stability
and coherence in an increasingly diverse society. Finding
more effective ways to promote understanding and tolerance
of individual differences is a continuing challenge.
How to foster cooperation and the pursuit of win-win
strategies in interpersonal dealings is another important ques-
tion for research. It would be good to know more about how
altruism relates to personal and social mores and to what ex-
tent it can be cultivated (Schwartz, 1977). How to deal with
social dilemmas and the “tragedy of the commons” (Hardin,
1968; Glance & Huberman, 1994; Platt, 1973) is a question
on which considerable research has been done but on which
much more is needed. Hardin (1968) illustrated the conflict
that can occur between self-interest and the common good
with a metaphor of a herdsman who can realize a substantial
personal benefit at little personal cost by adding an animal to
his herd that is grazing on common land. The benefit that
comes from having an additional animal is his alone, whereas
the cost, in terms of slightly less grazing land per animal, is
shared by all users of the common. When every herdsman
sees the situation the same way, and each works in what ap-
pears to be his own best short-term interest, they collectively
ruin the land. The commons tragedy plays itself out in many
forms, and the challenge is to find ways to motivate behaviors
that contribute to the common good.TechnologicalApplied experimental psychologists have an important role to
play in helping to ensure that the products of technology are
well matched not only to the needs but also to the capabilities
and limitations of their users. For years the complaint has
been heard that the development of new technologies has
been outstripping the knowledge required to incorporate them
usefully into applications. Landauer (1995), for example, dis-
cussed the productivity paradox and came to the conclusion
that much of computer technology is being used for purposes
that, in and of themselves, are unlikely to show productivity
gains. He argued that lack of attention to design for human
users is at the heart of the productivity problems that the
world is experiencing with respect to computer applications.
It is widely recognized that many people have difficulties
with setting the clocks on their automobile dashboards,
recording programs on their VCRs, using their telephone an-
swering machines to receive messages from remotely located
phones, and availing themselves of other conveniences that
modern technology provides (Nussbaum & Neff, 1991). With
the continuing introduction of new technological devices,
such as personal digital assistants capable of receiving e-mail
through wireless connections, these problems are likely to get
worse. Again, here is a challenge to applied experimentalists
to contribute to an understanding of how to make specific
products of technology compatible with the needs, capabili-
ties, and limitations of their everyday users.
Engineers are introducing automation into large-scale sys-
tems with confidence that the systems’ performance will be
better as a result. In many cases this expectation has turned
out to be wrong. Early attempts to introduce flight manage-
ment computers into airplane cockpits led to many instances
in which the workload associated with monitoring and
controlling them was greater than the workload involved in
conducting the same operations without them (Billings,
1996). The introduction of automation raises questions of