The concept of "comfort" is focused from a psychological point of view. Since it is familiar within the transportation research to define comfort as a state of subjective well-being (SWB), the relation between comfort and SWB is discussed and some of the psychological theories concerning SWB are presented. In spite of the fact that comfort is one of the factors that may contribute to the SWB, it is not a necessary part of it. This study suggests that examinations of the comfort variable within the transportation system should be made from a problem-oriented point of view rather than from a comfort-focused one. The problem-oriented approach is presumed to increase the understanding of the importance of comfort to a higher degree than a mere comfort-focused approach.
Samenvatting