Find over 25,000 psychological definitions


clumsy automation

in ergonomics, any reallocation of system functions from humans to machines that does not lead to the expected gains in safety and efficiency. This is usually because automation alters the human operator’s task, resulting in increased workload or underload. Similarly, machine functions may be misallocated to humans. See also adaptive task allocation; function allocation. [defined in 1989 by U.S. management scientist Earl Wiener (1949–  )]

Browse dictionary by letter

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

Psychology term of the day

March 17th 2025

family study

family study

research conducted among siblings, parents, or children to assess evidence for genetic links for characteristics or outcomes, often related to health or disease. For example, a family study might be conducted to assess whether individuals from the same family who share a similar genetic structure also have similar responses to a health-promotion intervention such as diet, exercise, or medication. The extent to which performance on a given measure varies as a function of genetic similarity is used as an indication of the heritability of that measure.