Psychology and the Choice of an Optimal Travel Path

Abstract

This paper draws attention to the psychological factors of a traveler and discusses his choice of the optimal travel path from a number of alternative routes. We assume that the psychological cost of a person traveling along a route is a function of the straight-line distance between his present position and destination. Under the `rectangular path hypothesis, we have shown, people prefer to traverse first the relatively larger segment of the path, and in case of the `triangular path they prefer a `step route. We have derived conditions explaining this behavior.