Keith R. MacArthur, Ph.D.

Ph.D. in Modeling & Simulation
University of Central Florida – Institute for Simulation & Training
M.Sc. Modeling & Simulation, UCF School of Modeling, Simulation, & Training
B.Sc. Psychology, University of Central Florida


Keith “Mac” MacArthur discovered the MIT2 laboratory through his undergraduate academic mentor, who subsequently introduced him to the laboratory manager at the time. Mac successfully completed and defended his undergraduate honors thesis on the deindividuation of automotive drivers in the Summer of 2014 and a sixteen month post Baccalaureate internship with the MIT2 laboratory where he was promoted to the position of Laboratory Manager. In the fall of 2016 Mac was awarded the University of Central Florida’s Office of Research and Commercialization Graduate Research Fellowship and accepted into the Modeling and Simulation PhD. program. In 2017 he was accepted into the Design for Usability Engineering graduate certificate program. While conducting graduate research, Mac encountered a considerable delay in Institutional Review Board application processing and in an effort help resolve the problem he joined UCF’s Institutional Review Board as an alternate member in 2017 (promoted to full board member in 2018). In 2017 he refounded the Human Factors and Applied Psychology Student Conference, formerly held at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, at UCF. In the summer of 2018 Mac accepted an internship position in the Intelligent Training division at SoarTech where he utilized his training in statistics, data visualization, and R coding to develop an analysis script that generated a report for a series of pilot studies.

Research Interests: deception, human factors, ergonomics, and data visualization.

Refereed Publications:

  1. Hancock, P. A., Kaplan, A. D., Cruit, J., Hancock, G. M., MacArthur, K. R., & Szalma, J. L. (2019). A meta-analysis of flow effects on the perception of time. Acta Psychologica, 198, 102836. doi: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2019.04.007
  2. Sanders, T. L., MacArthur, K. R., Volante, W., Hancock, G. M., MacGillivray, T., Shugars, W. T., & Hancock, P. A. (2017). Trust and prior experience in human-robot interaction. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting, 61(1), 1809-1813. doi:10.1177/1541931213601934
  3. MacArthur, K. R., Hancock, G. M., & Sawyer, B. D.  (2015, August). Deindividuation of drivers: Is everyone else a bad driver? Proceedings of the 19th Triennial Congress of the IEA, Melbourne, Australia (p. 282).
  4. MacArthur, K. R. (2014). Deindividuation of Drivers: Is Everyone Else A Bad Driver? (Unpublished undergraduate honors thesis) University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida. (Thesis ID No. CFH0004644)

Paper Presentations:

  1. MacArthur, K. R., Parkhurst, E., MacGillivray, T. G., & Hancock, P. A. (2018, April). Trinary Scales: Psychometrics in 3-D. To be presented at the University of Central Florida’s Graduate Research Symposium, Orlando, FL.
  2. MacArthur, K. R., Stowers, K., & Hancock P. A. (2016, July). Human-robot interaction: Proximity and speed – Slowly back away from the robot! The Proceedings of the 7th International Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics Annual Meeting. Springer Publications.

Poster Presentations:

  1. MacArthur, K. M., Shugars, W. T., Sanders, T., & Hancock, P. A. (2017, August). Effects of anthropomorphism on trust in human-robot interaction. Presented at the 125th annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, Washington, D. C.
  2. Hancock, P. A., Kaplan, A. D., Stowers, K., Kessler, T., Sanders, T. L., Volante, W., MacArthur, K. R., & Brill, J. C. (2017, May). Trust in automation and autonomy: A growing challenge for aviation operations. Poster presented at the 19th annual International Symposium on Aviation Psychology, Dayton, OH.
  3. Kessler, T. T., MacArthur, K. R., Trujillo-Silva, M., MacGillivray, T. G., Ripa, C., & Hancock, P. A. (2016, November). The effects of planned versus unplanned malfunctions on trust in human-robot interaction. Presented at the Psychonomics Society 57th annual meeting, Boston, MA.
  4. MacGillivray, T. G., Parkhurst, E. L., MacArthur, K. R., & Hancock, P. A. (2016, April). Human-robot versus human-human relationship impact on comfort levels regarding in home privacy. Poster Presented at the 10th Annual Human Factors and Applied Psychology student conference, Daytona Beach, FL.
  5. Hancock, P. A., Kessler, T., MacArthur, K. R., & Stowers, K. (2016, January). H1.3 trust in human-robot interaction: Current findings and future investigations. Poster presented at the annual Research Management Board meeting of the Army Research Laboratories: Robotics Collaborative Technology Alliance, Aberdeen, MD.
  6. Sawyer, B. D., Oppold, P., MacArthur, K., & Hancock, P. A. (2015, August). Using the Population Specific User Mastery (PSUM) scale to determine training needs. Poster presented at the 19th Triennial Congress of the IEA, Melbourne, Australia (p. 1546). 
  7. Hancock, P. A., Sanders, T. L., Kessler, T., Volante, W., & MacArthur, K. R. (2015, May). Who will fly in the future: The human role in automated flight spaces. Poster presented at the 86th annual meeting of the Aerospace Medical Association, Lake Buena Vista, FL.
  8. MacArthur, K. R., Fund, I., Siler, J., Hancock, G., & Mouloua, M. (2014, March). Validating the Continuum Mysteriosum. Poster presented at the 60th annual meeting of the Southeastern Psychological Association, Nashville, TN.
  9. MacArthur, K. R. (2014, April). Deindividuation of Drivers: Are We Individuals? Poster Presented at the 11th annual Showcase of Undergraduate Research Excellence, Orlando, FL.
  10. MacArthur, K. R., Greenstein , S., Sawyer, B., & Hancock, P. A. (2014, April). Mastering Google Glass. Poster presented at the Human Factors and Applied Psychology Student Conference, Daytona Beach, FL.
  11. MacArthur, K. R., Greenstein , S., Sawyer, B. D., & Hancock, P.A. (2014, August). PSUM: Training in Google Glass and Android. Poster presented at the 122nd annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, Washington D.C.