re: #130 Political Atheist

Really? We see so many safety lessons that are much like that. Pool safety, car safety…. Simple depictions of gates around pools and safety belt use by the kids big enough to be out of the baby seat. Fire safety is another example. Smoky The Bear. Look Both Ways for crossing the street.

Yeah, and the sad thing is, actual scientific study shows they mostly don’t work. Like I said, I’m not saying this is their fault.

Perhaps the deal is these simple depictions are just an introductory part of the safety lessons. Still imagery does have it’s limits.

The biggest problem, when directed at children, is that they increase curiosity, and when directed at adults, they increase familiarity. For example, at a nuclear waste handling facility, they found that having the radiation symbol displayed often in training texts made people more likely to ignore it or take it casually in the actual work environment.

Our brains are kind of weird.