THE INFLUENCE OF TIME STRESS AND LOCATION ON BEHAVIORAL WARNING COMPLIANCE

Stress has been shown to affect perceptual processing and decision mak ing in various domains. Two experiments examined the effect of stress on compliance behavior. The first experiment also examined the effect of warning location. In Experiment 1, participants were assigned rando mly to one of four conditions in a 2 (stress)x2 (warning placement) be tween-subjects design. Participants performed a chemistry task in whic h they weighed and measured various chemical substances that appeared potentially hazardous, but were actually safe. In the high stress cond ition, participants were given a time limit to complete the task, and the experimenter stood immediately adjacent to the participant, appear ing to be monitoring the participant's performance. In the low stress condition, participants were given as much time as they needed to comp lete the task and the experimenter stood at a distance, out of the par ticipant's field of view. A warning to wear mask and gloves was presen t in one of two locations, either as a posted sign or placed within a set of task instructions. Compliance with the warning (wearing of prot ective equipment) was significantly higher among participants who were under low stress and exposed to the within-instructions warning. In E xperiment 2, the stress manipulation was separated into two factors: t ime pressure (absence vs presence) and social monitoring (absence vs p resence). Results showed that time pressure significantly reduced comp liance compared with its absence, but social monitoring produced a sma ll but non-significant compliance enhancement. The results point to th e need to consider external factors in warning systems. (C) 1998 Elsev ier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.