Operationalization of Learned Carelessness: An Experimental Approach

Kurzfassung

The theory of Learned Carelessness offers an explanation why humans take unnecessary risks by omitting safety precautions against better judgment. It is assumed carelessness is learned by means of operant conditioning, but em-pirical research on Learned Carelessness is scarce. To test the theory commercial aircraft pilots repeatedly checked flight plans on a multi-function display. The occurrence of errors was manipulated. Effort of check performance and risk resulting from check omission were surveyed and the rate of falsely accepted erroneous flight plans during a test phase was measured. Participants who repeatedly processed erroneous flight plans detected more errors during the test phase than participants who previously received only error-free flight plans. Checks’ effort and omission risk had no significant effect on the development of Learned Carelessness. The results suggest eliciting Learned Carelessness in controlled laboratory research is possible. Implications for future research are discussed.