Signal words and signal icons in application control and information technology exception messages - Hazard matching and habituation effects: Working paper series--06-05

Abstract

People often encounter warnings in various life situations. These warnings typically include a variety and combination of signal phrases (e.g., "Deadly") and signal icons (e.g., a skull and cross-bones). Users of information technology (IT) frequently encounter such signal words and icons in "exception messages" that appear on computer screens when the user performs an incorrect action or if a condition could arise that may result in a negative occurrence. For example, in the context of accounting application controls which deal with exposures within specific computer application programs. This paper reports the results of two experiments. The first examines the "arousal strength" associated with various signal words and signal icons that are commonly used in IT exception messages. An elicitation exercise was completed by 316 participants, in which each participant viewed exception messages containing combinations of signal words and signal icons and provided their perception as to the severity of a computer problem communicated by the exception message. The results can be used to achieve "hazard matching," whereby the severity of hazard that is implied by the signal word and icon within the exception message can be matched to the level of the potential hazard faced by the user. The second experiment investigated the factor of habituation and if the negative results of habituation can be overcome through the design of exception messages. A strong habituation effect was found to exist and the effect was also found to be mitigated by altering the signal word and icon combination of an exception message