Vigilance, or the ability to sustain attention over prolonged periods of time, is an important component of tasks in a wide variety of settings. A large body of research has demonstrated that performance on these tasks declines with time on watch, a pattern referred to as the vigilance decrement. One factor that has been mostly neglected in prior research is the effect of the presence of a supervisory person during a vigilance task. The purpose of the present investigation was to determine the effect of the presence of a supervisory figure on the performance, perceived workload, and stress associated with vigilance. It was hypothesized that the presence of a supervisory figure would increase overall performance and also attenuate the vigilance decrement. However, it was also expected to increase the perceived workload and stress associated with the task.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AmslerG. M.FindleyH. M.IngramE. (2014). performance monitoring: a guide for the modern workplace. Supervision, 76(1), 15-21.
2.
BergumB. O.LehrD. J.Effects of authoritarianism on vigilance performance. J. appl. Pgchol., 1963, 47, 75-77.
3.
DemberW. N.GalinskyT. L.WarmJ. S. (1992). The role of choice in vigilance performance. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 30(3), 201-204.
4.
DemberW.N.WarmJ.S.BowersJ.C.LanzettaT. (1984). Intrinsic Motivation and the Vigilance Decrement. In MitalA. (ed.), 21-26. Amsterdam: Elsevier
5.
FiskeS. T.BerdahlJ. L. (2007). Social power. In KruglanskiA.HigginsE.T. (Eds.), Social psychology: A handbook of basic principles (pp. 678−692). New York: Oxford University Press
6.
FrankmannJ.A.AdamsJ. P. (1962). Theories of vigilance. Psychological Bulletin, 59, 257- 272.
7.
FrasnerD. C. (1953) Relationship of an environmental variable to performance in a prolonged visual task. Quart. J. exp. Pychol., 1953,5,31-32.
8.
HancockP. A. (2013). In search of vigilance: The problem of iatrogenically created psychological phenomena..American Psychologist, 68(2), 97-109.
9.
KernodleM.McKethanR.RabinowitzE. (2008). Observational learning of fly casting using traditional and virtual modeling with and without authority figure. Perceptual And Motor Skills, 107(2), 535-546.
10.
KiddJ. S.ChristyR.T. (1961), Supervisory Procedures and Work-Team Productivity, Journal of Applied Psychology, 45 (6), 388-392.
11.
MackworthN.H. (1948). The breakdown of vigilance during prolonged visual search. QuarterlyJournal of Experimental Psychology, I, 6-21.
12.
ParasuramanR.WarmJ. S.DemberW. N. (1987). Vigilance: Taxonomy and utility. In L. S. Mark, J. S.
13.
PutzV. R. (1975). Effects of different modes of supervision on vigilance behaviour. British Journal Of Psychology, 66157-160.
14.
ScerboM. W. (1998). What’s so boring about vigilance? In HoffmanR. R.SherrickM. F.WarmJ. S. (Eds.), Viewing psychology as a whole: The integrative science of William N. Dember (pp. 145-166). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association
15.
ScerboM. W. (2001). Stress, workload, and boredom in vigilance: A problem and an answer. In HancockP. A.DesmondP. A. (Eds.), Stress, workload, and fatigue (pp. 267–278). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum
16.
SipowiczR. R.WareJ. R.BakerR. A.The effects of reward and knowledge of results on the performance of a simple vigilancetask. J. exp. Pychol., 1962, 64, 58-61.
17.
SzalmaJ. (2009). Individual differences in performance, workload, and stress in sustained attention: Optimism and pessimism. Personality And Individual Differences, 47(5), 444- 451.
18.
SzalmaJ. (2011). Workload and Stress in Vigilance: The Impact of Display Format and Task Type (English). The American Journal Of Psychology, 124(4), 441-454.
19.
TiwariT.SinghA. L.SinghI. L. (2009). Task demand and workload: Effects on vigilance performance and stress. Journal Of The Indian Academy Of Applied Psychology, 35(2), 265-275.
20.
TylerT. R. (2006a). Why people obey the law: Procedural justice, legitimacy, and compliance. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
21.
TylerT. R. (2006b). Legitimacy and legitimation. Annual Review of Psychology, 57, 375−400.
22.
Van der ToornJ.TylerT.JostJ. (2011). More than fair: Outcome dependence, system justification, and the perceived legitimacy of authority figures. Journal Of Experimental Social Psychology, 47(1), 127-138.
23.
WareJ. R.KowalB.BakerR. A. (1964). The Role of Experimenter Attitude and Contingent Reinforcement in a Vigilance Task. Human Factors: The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, 6(11), 7.
24.
WarmJ. S.JerisonH. J. (1984). The psychophysics of vigilance. In WarmJ. S. (Ed.), Sustained attention in human peformance (pp. 15-59). Chichester: Wiley.
25.
WarmJ.ParasuramanR.MatthewsG. (2008). Vigilance Requires Hard Mental Work and Is Stressful (English). Human Factors, 50(3), 433-441
26.
WarmJ.S. (1984). An Introduction to vigilance. In WarmJ.S. (ed.), Sustained attention in human performance (pp. 1-14)
