Presentation
Failed Counterfactual Interventions: Are Workers Naturally Generating Counterfactual Thoughts after Experiencing Simulated Incidents in Extended Reality?
DescriptionIndividuals in high-risk/consequence industries (HRCIs) continue to experience incidents despite improvements to procedures (e.g., standard operating procedures) designed to mitigate incidents. We submit that counterfactual thinking (CFTing)—thoughts where one revisits a prior event such as, “If only I had shut off the breaker, then I would not have been electrocuted”— could be a novel incident mitigation strategy that extends beyond procedures alone for tasks that employ procedures. There is a large body of research across several domains that suggests CFTing is an effective way to change behavior, especially after experiencing a negative event. Consequently, since HRCI incidents are negative events, CFTs should lead to safer behavior post-incident. However, one investigation that included a CFT/no CFT manipulation in a simulated HRCI environment failed to observe a CFT effect on subsequent incident occurrence. This study was designed to determine if individuals self-generate CFTs (SGCFTs) and therefore could nullify a CFT manipulation. As predicted, the results from 48 participants, each experiencing a simulated incident in a similar HRCI environment in one of two sessions, indicated CFTs were spontaneously generated. Furthermore, incident order differentially impacted SGCFTs such that SGCFTs occurred at a higher rate when incidents followed success. Implications and future research are discussed.
Contributors
Event Type
Lecture
TimeTuesday, October 14th4:30pm - 4:50pm CDT
LocationGrand A
Safety
Similar Presentations