An exploration into the efficacy of public warning signs: A zoo case study
| Autor: | Lauren Bramley, Andrew R. Marshall, Kathryn Elizabeth Slocombe, Ellie Parker, Laura Scott |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2018 |
| Předmět: |
Social Cognition
health care facilities manpower and services lcsh:Medicine Child Behavior Social Sciences 050109 social psychology Developmental psychology Families Zoonoses Medicine and Health Sciences Psychology Attention lcsh:Science Child Children health care economics and organizations Multidisciplinary Behavior Animal Animal Behavior Communication 05 social sciences Prosocial behavior Warning signs Sensory Perception Public Health Anatomy Research Article Adult medicine.medical_specialty Social Psychology Herpestidae education Animals Wild Animal Welfare 050105 experimental psychology Ocular System Animal welfare medicine Animals Humans 0501 psychology and cognitive sciences Animal behavior Nutrition Behavior Public health lcsh:R Cognitive Psychology Biology and Life Sciences Displacement (psychology) Animal Feed Diet Prosocial Behavior Touch Age Groups People and Places Eyes Cognitive Science lcsh:Q Animals Zoo Population Groupings Head Zoology Neuroscience |
| Zdroj: | PLoS ONE PLoS ONE, Vol 13, Iss 11, p e0207246 (2018) |
| ISSN: | 1932-6203 |
| Popis: | Unauthorised feeding and touching of the animals by visitors to zoos and wildlife parks pose serious threats to the health of both animals and visitors alike. We tested the efficacy of four different “do not feed” signs designed to prevent zoo visitors from feeding a group of meerkats. Signs consisted of one of two different written messages and imagery of either a pair of watching human eyes, or meerkat pawprints as a control. Covert observation of visitor behaviour in the presence and absence of the signs was analysed. Visitors were significantly less likely to feed the meerkats when signs were present, than when they were absent. The effect of the signs was specific to the targeted behaviour in that feeding was reduced, but attempts to touch the meerkats increased with the presence of the signs. We did not find that the presence of watching eyes or the different wording on the signs affected the likelihood of visitors feeding the meerkats. We also examined factors that influenced the likelihood of visitors attending to the signs. We found that children were more likely to attend to signs than adults which has important implications for the design of such signs. Together our findings show that signs are effective in reducing the unwanted behaviours they target but may also result in displacement of these negative behaviours and that children are more likely to attend to these signs than adults. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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