Abstract
Individuals need to infer proper behavior with an unfamiliar product in situations that are not specifically stated in a warning, as well as remember the warning in subsequent uses. One novel approach to help people correctly make inferences about warnings and remember them may be to use similes, which may allow individuals to understand hidden hazards by using previous knowledge. Twenty-six participants between the ages of 18 and 27 completed a computer-based assessment of how well they inferred safe behavior for unfamiliar products. Participants were shown traditional-type warnings, simile-type warnings, or non-warnings for products. An ANOVA with number of correct inferences as the dependent variable was performed While it was expected that participants given simile-type warnings might provide more correct answers to the inference-based questions than those given traditional-type warnings, there was no statistical difference found between the mean scores of participants in these groups. The mean scores of participants in both of these groups was significantly higher then the mean score of participants in the group given non-warnings. These data suggest that both traditional warnings and simile warnings provide useful information regarding product hazards. The study is in progress and will conclude with a total of sixty participants.
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