All Too Human: Understanding and Improving our Relationships with Technology [Paperback]

Vivid stories highlight the capabilities and limits of the human mind in this fascinating introduction to human factors psychology.McLaughlin explains concepts from human factors psychology via topical stories, from the Flint Water Crisis, to Chernobyl, to seemingly illogical behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic. This fascinating book explains how the mind copes with life and death situations and how we can build a safer, more enjoyable world.McLaughlin explains concepts from human factors psychology via topical stories, from the Flint Water Crisis, to Chernobyl, to seemingly illogical behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic. This fascinating book explains how the mind copes with life and death situations and how we can build a safer, more enjoyable world.Why do people fear air travel, but text while driving? How were the travesties at the Abu Ghraib prison like a nuclear meltdown? What is the best way to throw a rocket at a robot? These are just a few questions addressed by the field of human factors psychology. These scientists use knowledge of how people think and why they act to improve the design of our world. In All Too Human, Dr. Anne McLaughlin introduces the field with vivid and topical stories that hinge on cognitive processes such as attention, memory, and decision-making. From the COVID-19 pandemic, to abandoned SCUBA divers, conspiracy theories, and the travails of online dating, McLaughlin draws on a century of research into the human mind to explain our past and predict our future.1. 'Brace for impact'; 2. Bad water; 3. Hybrid vigor; 4. A mind divided; 5. All the light we cannot see; 6. Mistakes: We've made a few; 7. History repeating?; 8. Needles in haystacks; 9. Apt pupils and alien invaders; 10. A relative to truth; 11. Old principles for new worlds; References; index.A fantastic and approachable journey to understand the capability and limitations of the human brain and what we can do about it to improve technology and our world in general. McLalS}