The Subjective Response to the Thermal Environment

Abstract

Techniques used to assess subjective reactions to the thermal environment are evaluated and found to have been developed without any conceptual basis. In addition, the scales used lack sensitivity and inter-experimenter consistency. A novel approach to the problem has been developed which assumes that such measurements must account explicitly for the subject's motivation and which depends upon the correlation between physiological and behavioral measurements on the one hand, and voluntary exposure time on the other. Exploratory data are presented as a first step in the direction of developing methods for introducing the concepts into the laboratory.