Human behavior can be straightforward and obvious. It can also be complicated, subtle, and sometimes at odds with the prevailing conditions. The Human Factors profession has been compiling objective data, observations, and rules of thumb regarding human behavior for over 50 years.
Using the vast empirical base of behavioral studies, a human factors expert can help explain why individuals performed in a certain way under case-specific circumstances. More importantly, a human factors expert can describe to jurors what types of behavior one would expect to see under those circumstances.
What at first might seem unusual behavior might, in fact, be completely foreseeable or, at least, not completely out of the range of expected behavior. Of particular interest are the many conditions that are known to affect behavior in predictable ways. These are known as "performance shaping factors" and include heat, cold, noise, vibration, time pressure, autocratic management, and others.
