It can happen. Research shows that
what you say when urging responsible behavior can
backfire—easily. None of the research was specifically
about electrical safety, but there’s every reason to
believe it applies. Fortunately, if you have the
intelligence it takes to earn a license, what you need
to keep in mind to avoid this risk is not going to be
over your head.
A basic purpose of IAEI is to promote
electrical safety through public education, so this is a
job we want to take on increasingly, as we can make the
resources available. If you work for an organization
that puts out its own safety messages, such as a
jurisdiction or a utility, the information that follows
will help you contribute to making them more effective.
I’ve received heartfelt mail from
contractors about the need for public awareness. They’re
upset that home-owners don’t recognize the risk they
face from using installers who are ignorant of the NEC,
or from not getting work inspected, or who don’t see
that fraudulently applying for a homeowner’s permit to
cover a contractor is a sucker’s game. Publicity about
the need to use licensed electricians, and to pull
permits, barely makes a dent. Messages about extension
cords and octopus adapters are heeded less than we might
wish. Utility messages about staying away from power
lines are ignored, tragically, far more frequently than
anybody would like to see.
Dr. Robert Cialdini, a psychologist
at Arizona State University, performed and published
much of the research identifying the problem. He and his
colleagues warn that public service announcements and
similar communications can deliver a muddled message.
Here’s a rather unkind way I might put the paradox:
"So many people imitate lemmings that if you give
the impression most everybody else is doing something,
however unwise, most of your audience will keep on doing
it themselves." Think back, and you may recall your
mother having had a pithy saying about that, perhaps the
rhetorical, ". . .and if all your friends decided
to XXX, would you XXX?"
So in one sense, at least to pundits
who are cynical about human nature, this is not news.
Nonetheless, even classy-looking, award-winning
promotions have ignored the problem. This is why the
researchers figure the TV spot, "People Start
Pollution, People Can Stop It," named the 16th best commercial of all time, may have missed the boat
when it showed a trashed environment, which some could
read as demonstrating that it is normal to pollute. (The
ad was created long before this research.)
There’s a natural inclination to
grab interest by talking how bad things are. This can
mean pointing out how rarely folks do what they should:
do you exercise your own circuit breakers? A modest
admission of this failing, however, is not something to
bring to people’s attention—not if you want to
change their behavior. Tell them how dangerous it can be
to take the risk; tell them about people who have
regretted doing so; but don’t focus them on how normal
it is to take chances. "Yes, I know almost nobody
checks for lamp cords that could get pinched by
furniture; it is a nuisance." Maybe this message
will encourage certain people to do what they should,
because they like feeling extra-virtuous; but it doesn’t
work overall, certainly not in the context of
public-service announcements.
This failure of good intentions is
heartbreakingly real. College girls exposed to a
public-awareness program featuring their peers who had
eating disorders showed more anorexia and more bulimia
than before. Teens warned about how many adolescents
were killing themselves ended up considering suicide as
more of an option, not less. Warning tourists about how
bad a problem vandalism is in a federal preserve
increased the likelihood that they would steal mementos.
Here is what does work.
If most people really do the right
thing, say so, so that the lemming effect will work in
your favor.
Use negative wording, yes, negative,
because negative information often carries greater
weight. People notice it, pay more attention to it, and
count it more heavily than the same content put in
positive terms. I think of this as the "Mama
spank" effect. Our messages don’t have to be
complicated, hostile, or pessimistic. It’s the simple
difference between saying "Remember to test your
smoke detectors" and "Don’t fail to test
your smoke detectors." Sure, if you want to
condition habit change, it is good Skinnerian policy to
reward efforts in the right direction, rather than
focusing on punishment. This is a different context.
Add novel information, if you have
something rele-vant. Here’s an example. Ed Krawiek, an
electrical engineer, told me that on field tests, ten
percent of GFCIs did not trip. A third of smoke
detectors did not operate. Most of the detectors that
failed to sound did have their backup batteries, and
most of those batteries had ade-quate juice. If they
didn’t, they were replaced and the units were
retested. The test was performed by spritzing them
directly with artificial smoke, and then trying the TEST
button only if the smoke did nothing. It may well be
even worse than the matter of a third having failed:
given how many failed altogether, there is no particular
reason to believe that all of the two-thirds that did alarm ultimately in response to the go-no-go spritz test
actually retained their calibration and would alarm as
early as needed in response to a fire. Pushing the TEST
button is the way the manufacturer intended for these
devices’ function—and calibration—to be tested.
This information certainly made me
sit up. Sharing some part of this, with luck, will
emphasize to an audience how risky it is not to test.
Certainly it is far more useful than telling them how
few folks actually test their devices regularly, even
though the latter information is implicitly implied by
the field test’s findings.
Find a hook that will remind people
of what they need to do, later on. They may not act on
your message right now, may not be in a position to do
so. Here’s an example that presupposes a public
service message containing a visual. Maybe you can trust
that your audience cleans their bathrooms thoroughly
once a week, or once a month. An image of a sponge,
cleaning the sink, showing the GFCI above it, and a
message saying "Push the TEST button," might
stay with them long enough to do some good.
If you can add humor (without being
inappropriate), that can help get a message through.
Finally, don’t take a chance on
your message backfiring via the lemming effect. To
repeat the concept I started out with, if "four out
of five dentists" (speaking metaphorically) will
break off a third prong when they don’t find grounded
receptacles, let’s just keep that number to ourselves,
and focus on the possible severe consequences of
ignoring grounding.
In summary, to get the most clout for
each shout, we can’t overlook what all the folks who
really understand how to move the public toward
healthier behavior do: one, tell people that the action
we urge is popular and important; like a Terrible Two,
grab their attention with some non-rude form of
"No!"; three, interest them with news and
humor, if any fits; and four, give them a hook that will
help them remember what they need to do.
David E. Shapiro wears several hats.
He is a contractor and consultant, certified to serve as
a Third Party Inspector for Washington D.C. (residential
only) and Maryland (details at www.davidelishapiro.com/safety ). He is also an award-winning science/technology writer
(details at www.davidelishapiro.com/writer ), best known in our trade as the author of Old
Electrical Wiring. His graduate training in social
science ensures the accuracy of articles that extend
beyond wiring and Code issues.
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