EFFECTS OF A VIDEO WARNING SIGN AND SOCIAL MODELING ON BEHAVIORAL COMPLIANCE

Two experiments were conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of differ ent kinds of video presentations as methods to induce behavioral compl iance to safety directives. In Experiment 1, the effects of: (i) a vid eo sign warning alone, (ii) a video sign warning plus a role model, an d (iii) a video sign warning plus a role model with an added voice war ning were examined with respect to compliance with directed safety beh aviors. The results indicated that behavioral compliance was significa ntly higher when participants were exposed to the videos containing th e role model compared to the video sign alone. The addition of a voice warning to the sign plus role model condition produced no further inc rease in compliance over the condition without voice. Experiment 2 exa mined whether a delay between the time of exposure to the video and th e time the safety behaviors were necessary would produce a decrease in compliance. In addition, the influence of a video role model and a vo ice warning on perceived importance of protective equipment was examin ed. Experiment 2 showed that a delay of several days did not reduce th e effectiveness of a video warning. This result suggests that the beha vioral change induced by the video is robust over time. In addition, a significant relationship between perceived importance of using safety equipment and behavioral compliance was demonstrated. Implications of this research for safety training programs and warnings are discussed .