Impulsive Choice and Workplace Safety: A New Area of Inquiry for Research in Occupational Settings

Details

• Personal Author:
  Reynolds B ; Schiffbauer RM
• Description:
  A conceptual argument is presented for the relevance of behavior-analytic research on impulsive choice to issues of occupational safety and health. Impulsive choice is defined in terms of discounting, which is the tendency for the value of a commodity to decrease as a function of various parameters (e.g., having to wait or expend energy to receive the commodity). A high degree of discounting is often considered an index of impulsivity. We argue that for workers, possible negative consequences (e.g., injury or disease) are often disregarded, or discounted, in choices about workplace safety because such consequences are typically delayed and uncertain. Furthermore, some evidence suggests that certain environmental conditions, such as those that lead to stress or sleep deprivation, may increase discounting. Increased discounting, by extension, leads to a further devaluation of safety practices and their benefits. A call is made for research aimed at more clearly delineating the relation between impulsive choice and workplace safety. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Environmental Health Mental Health Occupational Health Safety Safety Management Stress, Psychological Workplace
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Impulsivity Choice Discounting Emotional-stress Environmental-factors Health Mental-health Occupational Safety Safety-monitoring Work-analysis Work-capability Work-performance Work-practices Worker-health Workers Workplace-studies

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• ISSN:
  0738-6729
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Montana ; OSHA Region 8
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  HELD - Health Effects Laboratory Division
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  239-246
• Volume:
  27
• Issue:
  2
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20032299
• Citation:
  Behav Anal 2004 Oct; 27(2):239-246
• Contact Point Address:
  Brady Reynolds, Research Institute on Addictions, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, 1021 Main Street, Buffalo, New York 14203
• Email:
  breynoldC@aria.buffalo.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2005
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  Behavior Analyst
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:497e78732e058723ad1cbe0ac8d0283723a9a3ea24223c8f8de4c8bbbd3cdd51b0a85953f294cd3872250b1997b0cc1af87cdded1a353960dd01dee80012dd80
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/186324/cdc_186324_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.26 MB ]