https://www.who.int/fctc/guidelines/ArtElevenWogalterNine.pdf

Research-based guidelines for warning design and evaluation

Perceptions of risk are an inherent part of the decision-making process. What is more, risk perception can be understood as an individual's assessment of risk, and the adequacy of any risk assessment is reliant on the adequacy of the accessible risk information. Consequently, one way to understand the effect of risk perception on decision-making, and the approach taken in this literature review, is to understand how risk information is communicated and received by an individual. A number of factors are identified that have been found to influence perceptions of risk, which are related to the design of risk messages: the message (colour, signal word, surround shape, and the framing effect), the source of the message (credibility and trust), and the target of the message (risk target). It is concluded that, in order to design effective risk communications, and to facilitate decision-making and safe behaviour, these factors need to be considered, in a context-dependent manner.

How does our perception of risk influence decision-making? Implications for the design of risk information

Perceptions of risk are an inherent part of the decision-making process. What is more, risk perception can be understood as an individual’s assessment of risk, and the adequacy of any risk assessment is reliant on the adequacy of the accessible risk information. Consequently, one way to understand the effect of risk perception on decision-making, and the approach taken in this literature review, is to understand how risk information is communicated and received by an individual. A number of factors are identified that have been found to influence perceptions of risk, which are related to the design of risk messages: the message (colour, signal word, surround shape, and the framing effect), the source of the message (credibility and trust), and the target of the message (risk target). It is concluded that, in order to design effective risk communications, and to facilitate decision-making and safe behaviour, these factors need to be considered, in a context-dependent manner.

Review Article How does our perception of risk influence decision-making? Implications for the design of risk information

Warnings are one of several hazard control methods used to protect employees and property against danger and loss. This article surveys a set of factors known to influence the effectiveness of workplace warnings. The description of empirical research is organized around a communication–human information processing (C–HIP) model. The model begins with a source entity attempting to relay a warning message through one or more media/sensory channels to one or more receivers. At the receiver, processing begins when attention is switched to the warning message and then maintained while information is extracted. Processing continues through the successive stages of comprehension, beliefs and attitudes, motivation, and ends with compliance behaviour. Any of these stages can be a bottleneck that causes processing to stop, diminishing the effectiveness of the warning. The factors that are influential at each stage are described. The C–HIP model provides a structure to systematically examine factors that can cause r...

A Communication–Human Information Processing (C–HIP) approach to warning effectiveness in the workplace

Detailed findings of the 2008 evaluation of the graphic health warnings on tobacco products.

Evaluation of the effectiveness of the graphic health warnings on tobacco product packaging 2008

Effect of signal word and source attribution on judgments of warning credibility and compliance likelihood

Most research examining the kinds of features that perceptually enhance warning signs and labels are conducted in laboratory settings using indirect measures of attention gettingness (noticeability), usually by employing subjective preference and memory tests. A more direct, ecologically valid measure of visual attention is whether or not a person is seen noticing the warning and the amount of time spent examining it, or in other words, their looking behavior. The present study examined whether adding a rectangular border around the warning text would improve the warning sign’s salience as measured by two indicators of looking behavior in a field observational experiment. Six conditions were tested. In four, warning text was surrounded by one of four different borders (thick red, thick yellow/black alternating stripes, thin red, or thin black). The two control conditions were warning text with no border and no warning text/no border. The signs were individually posted in a university campus building and over 1200 people were observed on whether or not they looked at the sign and the amount of time they spent examining it. The results show that signs with thick red and thick yellow/black diagonal stripes were noticed more frequently and examined for longer periods of time than signs with thin or no borders. Implications for future testing warning salience are described.

Raheel Rashid

Papers

Effect of signal word and source attribution on judgments of warning credibility and compliance likelihood

A Border Surrounding a Warning Sign Affects Looking Behavior: A Field Observational Study: