What is the difference between an experimental psychology and an engineering human factors experts?
Human factors is a mix of psychology and engineering. In most cases, a human factors analysis requires two steps. The first is to specify the physical properties of a situation, e, g, the speed and distance of vehicles in a road accident. The next is to determine how human limitations and predispositions would operate under the physical, situational constraints, e .g., reaction time, perception, decision-making. Because of its interdisciplinary nature, most human factors experts come from psychology or from engineering. However, there is a strong difference in emphasis. The Engineer’s base of knowledge and expertise is in the physical specification. Their basic education is in math, physics and related topics. (I know because my original undergraduate major was engineering.) An experimental psychologist’s base of knowledge and expertise is in the science of human behavior. Their basic training is in the scientific method and basic psychological factors, such as perception, memory, cogn
