Cognitive laziness, according to the experts, is a condition in which people reveal a tendency to take short cuts for a number of things, including a short cut to flying on automation, as in this case. Social loafing refers to the tendency displayed by people, in which people tend to expend lesser effort in any given situation, when there is a group of individuals involved. ("Cockpit automation may bias decision making," 1999)

Most individuals, stated Dr. Skitka, tended to display a tendency to slack off when there was a situation that warranted a sharing of responsibility. Therefore, in this case, when the computer is a part of the group, the same tendency would apply. Diffusion of responsibility refers to the inclination of individuals to conform to the demands that figures of authority make on them. In this particular case, the computer was taken as an authority figure, or at the...
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