ABSTRACT
Human factors (engineering) started as a solution to a practical problem, namely the challenges to human capabilities that came from uncontrolled technological developments. The practice of human factors was from the beginning justied by various theories about human functioning, specically the analogy between humans and information processing machines. Through the following decades the dependence on theories increased so that today we are inundated with methods and solutions that are intellectually attractive but with limited practical effects. This chapter provides a condensed survey of this development, and argues that human factors as a practical solution should be based on a small number of simple principles with a strong empirical foundation.
