INFLUENCE OF WARNING LABEL SIGNAL WORDS ON PERCEIVED HAZARD LEVEL

This experiment investigated the influence of warnings, signal words, and a signal icon on perceived hazard of consumer products. Under the guise of a marketing research study, 135 people (high school students, college students, and participants from a shopping mall) rated produc t labels on six dimensions, including how hazardous they perceived the products to be. A total of 16 labels from actual household products w ere used: 9 carried the experimental conditions, and 7 were filler pro duct labels that never carried a warning. Five conditions presented th e signal words NOTE, CAUTION, WARNING, DANGER, and LETHAL together wit h a brief warning message. In another two conditions, a signal icon (e xclamation point surrounded by a triangle) was presented together with the terms DANGER and LETHAL. In the final two conditions, one lacked a signal word but retained the warning message, and the other lacked b oth the warning message and the signal word. Results showed that the p resence of a signal word increased perceived product hazard compared w ith its absence. Significant differences were noted between extreme te rms (e.g., NOTE and DANGER) but not between terms usually recommended in warning design guidelines (e.g., CAUTION and WARNING). The signal i con showed no significant effect on hazard perception. Implications of the results and the value of the methodology for future warnings inve stigations are discussed.