2025 (Current Year) Faculty Courses School of Engineering Undergraduate major in Industrial Engineering and Economics
Engineering Psychology
- Academic unit or major
- Undergraduate major in Industrial Engineering and Economics
- Instructor(s)
- Hiroyuki Umemuro
- Class Format
- Lecture/Exercise
- Media-enhanced courses
- -
- Day of week/Period
(Classrooms) - Class
- -
- Course Code
- IEE.C203
- Number of credits
- 110
- Course offered
- 2025
- Offered quarter
- 3Q
- Syllabus updated
- Mar 27, 2025
- Language
- Japanese
Syllabus
Course overview and goals
In order to consider interactions between technology and human, it is essential to understand fundamental characteristics of humans. In this course, we learn fundamentals of psychological knowledge, including perception, cognition, and execution which are especially important in production and interface design, in relation with practical applications.
Course description and aims
By the end of this course, students are expected to
(1) understand fundamental knowledge of cognitive process of humans.
(2) understand fundamental knowledge in application of human cognitive characteristics for industrial applications.
(3) be able to consider rational and irrational aspects of humans.
(4) understand psychology as a scientific approach, as well as methodology if psychological experiments.
Student learning outcomes
実務経験と講義内容との関連 (又は実践的教育内容)
Professor to conduct this class has experiences on research on human behavior in market while he was working for a private company.
Keywords
cognitive science, cognitive psychology, memory, perception, attention
Competencies
- Specialist skills
- Intercultural skills
- Communication skills
- Critical thinking skills
- Practical and/or problem-solving skills
Class flow
Active discussion is appreciated in lectures. We have mid-term and final exams.
Following general guidance and historical introduction, Part 1 (classes 2 to 11) deals with cognitivism (information processing approach). Despite a variety of criticisms, this approach aiming to model human cognition as information processing system is still providing fundamentals for engineering applications when modeling a human. Thus we learn cognitivism as classic fundamental in this field.
In Part 2 (weeks 12 to 14) deals with reflections on cognitivism, including non-cognitive abilities, criticism towards classic cognitivism and newer approaches and topics such as emotion. Besides, students learn fundamental knowledge about psychological experiments, and participate in actual experiments for further understanding.
Exercises and small experiments are also introduced in lectures for deeper understanding of the topics.
Course schedule/Objectives
| Course schedule | Objectives | |
|---|---|---|
| Class 1 | General guidance＋Introduction: How psychology became science. | To understand goals, methods, and grading of this course. Understand what is scientific method, and how psychology has developed toward science historically. |
| Class 2 | Cognitive process: Overview | Understand overview of cognitive process. |
| Class 3 | Perception (1): Signal detection theory | Understand signal detection theory. |
| Class 4 | Perception (2): Vigilance task | Understand characteristics of vigilance task based on the knowledge of signal detection theory. |
| Class 5 | Attention (1): Attention and its variation | Understand cognitive resource and attention, and learn variations of attention. |
| Class 6 | Attention (2): Visual sampling | Understand characteristics of visual sampling, and their application for design. |
| Class 7 | Memory (1): Working memory and long-term memory | Understand characteristics of two kinds of memories. |
| Class 8 | Memory (2): Limitation of working memory | Understand limitations in capacity and duration of working memory. |
| Class 9 | Decision making | Understand decision making process of human. Learn various heuristics and biases. |
| Class 10 | Response selection (1): Response time and information processing speed | Learn influencing factors on response time, and Hick-Hyman law. |
| Class 11 | Response selection (2): Limitation of information throughput model | Understand limitation of information throughput model. |
| Class 12 | Psychological experiment | Learn fundamental knowledge about experiments in psychology. |
| Class 13 | non-cognitive abilities | Learn overview, concepts, and measurement methods of what are called as non-cognitive abilities. |
| Class 14 | Criticism towards cognitivisim and new research directions. | Learn criticisms toward cognitivism and new research movement in this century. |
Study advice (preparation and review)
To enhance effective learning, students are encouraged to spend approximately 100 minutes preparing for class and another 100 minutes reviewing class content afterwards (including assignments) for each class.
They should do so by referring to textbooks and other course material.
Textbook(s)
Wickens, C. D., & Hollands, J. G. (2000). Engineering Psychology and Human Performance (3rd ed.). Prentice Hall.
Reference books, course materials, etc.
Norman, D. A. (2004). Emotional Design. Basic Books.
Additional class materials are provided when necessary.
Evaluation methods and criteria
Final exam: 60%
Class participation: 40%
Related courses
- IEE.B206 ： Experimental Economics
- IEE.C304 ： Human Factors and Ergonomics
- IEE.C306 ： Prototyping UX
- IEE.C533 ： Affect in Social Context
- IEE.D436 ： Healthcare Quality and Safety
- IEE.D435 ： Computers in Society
Prerequisites
Nothing in particular
Contact information (e-mail and phone) Notice : Please replace from ”[at]” to ”@”(half-width character).
Hiroyuki Umemuro
umemuro.h.f22d[at]m.isct.ac.jp
Other
This year, a few of lectures may be provided online.