Aviation risk perception: a comparison between experts and novices

Date
2004
Authors
Thomson, M. E.
Önkal D.
Avcioǧlu, A.
Goodwin, P.
Advisor
Instructor
Source Title
Risk Analysis
Print ISSN
0272-4332
Electronic ISSN
1539-6924
Publisher
Wiley-Blackwell Publishing
Volume
24
Issue
6
Pages
1585 - 1595
Language
English
Type
Article
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Abstract

This article describes an exploratory investigation of the risk perceptions of experts and novices in relation to helicopter operations, under conditions where the participants are matched on various characteristics previously found to affect perceptions, such as demographic, gender, and background factors. The study reports considerable evidence of perceptual differences between the two participant groups (i.e., expert pilots and candidate pilots). We find that the experts' perceptions of relative risks are more veridical, in terms of their higher correlation with the true relative frequencies. A significant positive correlation between the flight hours and the contextual risk-taking tendency is also shown, leading the experienced pilots' choices toward risky alternatives in scenarios - a potential result of their overconfidence based on superior task performance. Possible explanations are offered for the findings and potential avenues for future research are identified.

Course
Other identifiers
Book Title
Keywords
Expert-novice comparisons, Risk judgment, Risk perception, Correlation methods, Frequencies, Helicopters, Personnel, Population statistics, Sensory perception, Risk-taking tendency, Task performance, Risk assessment, Adult, Aircraft, Aviation, Cognition, Decision making, Humans, Judgment, Models, statistical, Models, theoretical, Perception, Risk, Risk factors, Risk-taking, Safety
Citation
Published Version (Please cite this version)