Sandra S. Godfrey

Effectiveness of Warnings

The purpose of the present work was to identify some of the factors that influence effectiveness of warnings. Two laboratory experiments designed to examine behavioral effectiveness indicated that a warning placed before procedural instructions is more likely to lead to compliance than a warning that follows instructions. Two rating experiments indicated that for greatest perceived effectiveness, environmental warnings generally require a signal word plus hazard, consequence, and instruction statements. A third rating experiment suggested that informative, nonredundant statements add to a warnings perceived effectiveness. Several field demonstration studies showed that cost of compliance and salience influence behavioral effectiveness. Implications and applications to warning design are discussed.

Warning Messages: Will the Consumer Bother to Look?

One way to encourage the safe use of potentially hazardous household products is to provide a warning message on the label. But will the consumer bother to look at the message? In Experiment 1 subjects were asked to imagine themselves purchasing a number of household products. They then rated the products on skin-contact hazard, inhalation hazard, swallowing hazard and overall hazard. They also rated the likelihood that they would look for a warning and how familiar they were with the product. In Experiment 2 more detailed information about familiarity with products was collected along with hazard ratings. Together the results of the two experiments indicate that subjects do discriminate products on overall hazard. They also rate skin contact hazard lowest, inhalation hazard intermediate and swallowing hazard highest. The more hazardous they perceive a product, the more likely they will look for a warning. Further, females are more likely to look for warnings than males. Also, perceived hazard varies inversely with familiarity. The principal conclusion is that factors such as perceived hazard, familiarity and sex influence the consumers decision to look for a warning message on the labels of potentially hazardous household products.

The Biasing Effects of Product Familiarity on Consumers' Awareness of Hazard

Although toxic shock syndrome (TSS) and its connection to tampon use has been highly publicized, the extent of the average consumers knowledge of the specific hazards involved is questionable. Women become familiar with this product and therefore may underrate its hazards and fail to notice warnings. A survey was conducted to determine womens awareness of the hazards of tampon use, their awareness of warnings about TSS, and their knowledge of the symptoms of TSS. They were not so likely to notice warnings on or in the tampon packages when they switched products as they were earlier. They were not well informed as to the symptoms of TSS, and many did not know that more absorbent tampons are more hazardous. The relationship of these results to the familiarity effect is discussed. Also, implementation by manufacturers of effective warnings on these products in order to enable women to use them safely is discussed and recommended.

Warnings: Do They Make a Difference?

Four experiments Were conducted in order to determine Whether Warnings are effective and to identify factors that influence their effectiveness. Warnings were posted on a copy machine, a public telephone, a Water fountain, and two sets of doors. The first two warnings were effective in that most people did not use the copy machine and the telephone when they had the warnings on them. The warning on the water fountain was not effective when a single, small warning was used. When that warning plus a larger, more forceful warning was used, most people did not drink from the fountain. The warnings on the doors were not obeyed when a convenient alternative exit was not available. However, when the warning directed people to a nearby, convenient exit, most of them obeyed it. Warning with a low cost of compliance are apparently more effective. The results indicate that warnings can be effective, but not unless they are well designed in appearance and content.

The New Alcohol Warning Labels: How Noticeable are They?

An experiment was conducted to assess the effect of various existing warning design factors on the noticeability of warnings on alcoholic beverage containers. One-hundred containers, 50 with warnings and 50 without, were used as stimuli and the time required to determine whether or not a warning was present was recorded. The results indicate that warnings on the front label were found more quickly than warnings appearing in any other location. Also, warnings printed horizontally were found more quickly than warning printed vertically. A regression analysis found that features of the signal word/phrase (“Government Warning”), as well as the amount of “noise” or clutter on the surrounding label, significantly influenced warning detection times. Thus, some of the design features currently used were shown to have an effect on noticeability of warning information. It is suggested that proper manipulation of these features could make the mandated warning more noticeable.

Perceived Effectiveness of Environmental Warnings

This study examined perceived effectiveness of warning signs for various hazard situations. Four-statement signs contained a signal word, a hazard statement, a consequence statement, and an instruction statement. Four additional three-statement signs, each with a different statement systematically removed from the four-statement sign, were used, for a total of 5 signs for each hazard situation. The results of Experiments 1 and 2 indicated that removing content statements reduced perceived effectiveness. Hazard and instruction statements were the most important statements, showing the greatest decrease in effectiveness when deleted. Signs for the most hazardous situations were perceived as the most effective warnings. Experiment 3 examined redundancy of statements in a sign. The results suggested that the deletion of redundant statements, particularly signal words, had less influence on effectiveness. The hazard statement showed the lowest redundancy consistant with it producing the greatest effectiveness decrement when deleted.

A Method for Correcting Biases in Risk Perception

Research in the area of risk perception has shown that people consistently underestimate common risks and overestimate rare ones. This tendency could have an undesirable effect on behavior in potentially hazardous situations. An imaging method was employed for the purpose of changing the perceived risk of a group of potential hazards. The hazards were coffee maker, lawn mower, pesticide, bicycle, power saw, toaster, asbestos, and swimming pool. Subjects sketched cartoons or scenarios of themselves having an accident involving each of a subgroup of the hazards. Subjects rated the risk of each hazard to themselves and estimated injury frequencies for the general population both before and after they sketched the accident scenario. They also rated the hazards on a variety of dimensions such as severity, plausibility, familiarity, imageability, etc. The results indicate that certain characteristics of the hazard determine how likely the risk perception is to change when accident scenarios are made cognitively available.

Scenario Analysis of Children's Ingestion Accidents

This paper reports the results of a scenario analysis of ingestion accidents involving children under five years of age. The variables of primary interest were the location of the child and the supervising adult, what each of them was doing before the accident, the nature and location of the substance, and how it was accessed and opened. Several frequent scenarios were identified. They indicate that most ingestion accidents happen in the course of normal events in the home rather than under unusual circumstances. Another interesting finding was that products with safety caps were involved in 57% of these cases. Results demonstrate the need for a modification of cap design and a public education program for parents regarding situations that lead to ingestion accidents.