Premium
An observational study of skilled memory in waitresses
Author(s) -
Stevens Joy
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
applied cognitive psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.719
H-Index - 100
eISSN - 1099-0720
pISSN - 0888-4080
DOI - 10.1002/acp.2350070305
Subject(s) - observational study , psychology , set (abstract data type) , applied psychology , social psychology , communication , computer science , statistics , mathematics , programming language
A two‐phase observational study was done on skilled waitresses as they served lunch orders in a Manhattan restaurant. Three months of participant observation provided a job description which characterized the skilled use of memory by waitresses. A second set of observations tracked the handling of orders for five confederate customers, and looked at ways in which waitresses had to reorganize information in order to do their job quickly and accurately. The date revealed that waitresses sort‐order information into different organizational configurations to match locations in the restaurant, and that they adaptively utilized these configurations in the flow of their activity.