Simulating Social Pressure: Evaluating Risk Behaviors in Construction Using Augmented Virtuality

Area of Science:

• Occupational Safety and Health
• Human-Computer Interaction
• Social Psychology

Background:

• Social influence theories highlight coworker risk-taking as a key factor in workplace behavioral intentions.
• Immersive technologies are increasingly used in construction safety, yet their role in assessing social presence and risk decision-making is under-researched.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate roofers' risk-taking behaviors under social stressors within an Augmented Virtuality (AV) environment.
• To evaluate the impact of social presence and peer behavior on individual decision-making in simulated high-risk scenarios.

Main Methods:

• Developed an AV environment simulating a roof with a virtual peer exhibiting safe or unsafe behaviors.
• Participants performed a physical roofing task (shingle installation) with passive haptics in the AV setting.
• Captured cognitive and behavioral responses using psychophysiological wearables and self-report measures.

Main Results:

• The AV environment successfully enhanced participants' sense of presence and social presence.
• The simulation effectively imposed social stressors, allowing for the assessment of decision-making under peer pressure.
• The study demonstrated the utility of AV for examining naturalistic responses to social stressors without real-world risk.

Conclusions:

• Augmented Virtuality provides a valuable platform for studying social influence on risk-taking in occupational settings.
• This technology enables the evaluation of behavioral changes and decision-making orientations in response to social stressors.
• Future research can leverage AV to develop targeted safety interventions by understanding social dynamics in risk-taking.