Quality of life: Criteria for behavioral adjustment(1)

New insights into potentially harmful consequences of modern technology have increased efforts to use the methods of the social, behavioral, and biological sciences in searching the psychosocial environment for aversive factors and in identifying high-risk individuals and groups. Examples are given from an ongoing project concerned with the impact of technology on workers, health and satisfaction, in particular problems concerned with adjustment to underload and overload associated with automation and mechanization in industry. Furthermore, the stress involved in urban commuting is illustrated with psychophysiological data. On the basis of results obtained in these and related studies it is argued that a moderately varied flow of stimuli and events, opportunities to engage in psychologically meaningful activities and to exercise personal control over external conditions, may be considered key components in the quality-of-life concept. Health risks associated with adjusting to demands characteristic of life in technologically advanced countries are discussed in this context.