The Psychological Cost of Making Control Responses in the Nonstereotype Direction

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study was to develop a scale for the “psychological cost” of making control responses in the nonstereotype direction. Background: Wickens, Keller, and Small suggested values for the psychological cost arising from having control/display relationships that were not in the common stereotype directions. We provide values of such costs specifically for these situations. Method: Working from data of Chan and Hoffmann for 168 combinations of display location, control type, and display movement direction, we define values for the cost and compare these with the suggested values of Wickens et al.’s Frame of Reference Transformation Tool (FORT) model. Results: We found marked differences between the values of the FORT model and the data of our experiments. The differences arise largely from the effects of the Worringham and Beringer visual field principle not being adequately considered in the previous research. Conclusion: A better indication of the psychological cost for use of incorrect control/display stereotypes is given. It is noted that these costs are applicable only to the factor of stereotype strength and not other factors considered in the FORT model. Application: Effects of having controls and displays that are not arranged to operate with population expectancies can be readily determined from the data in this paper.