Bosshart Noah, Bearth Angela, Wermelinger Stephanie, Daum Moritz M, Siegrist Michael
Consumer Behavior, Institute for Environmental Decisions (IED), ETH Zurich (ETHZ), Zürich, Switzerland.
Developmental Psychology: Infancy and Childhood, Department of Psychology, University of Zurich (UZH), Zürich, Switzerland.
Risk Anal. 2024 May;44(5):1193-1203. doi: 10.1111/risa.14217. Epub 2023 Sep 12.
This study investigated preschool children's categorization and risk perception of products with ambiguous product characteristics (e.g., food-like packaging). These characteristics make it difficult for preschool children to categorize household chemicals correctly. This, therefore, increases the risk of unintentional poisoning. We hypothesized that ambiguity arises from different product characteristics, such as the type of packaging, the products' scent, or the packaging's color and transparency. In four behavioral tasks, N = 108 preschool children (M = 43 months, SD = 3) categorized different products and household chemicals with various types of packaging, colors, and scents. Individually wrapped dishwasher tablets were more likely to be categorized as edible than unwrapped ones. Furthermore, children who had interacted with any type of dishwasher tablet in the last 6 months performed better in identifying dishwasher tablets, regardless of packaging type. Household chemicals with a fruity scent were more likely to be categorized as drinkable than those with a chlorine scent. Finally, the children considered black bottles more dangerous and preferred them less than bottles of a different color. In contrast, bottle transparency generally did not seem to affect risk perception and preference. These findings confirm that ambiguous product characteristics influence children's categorization of unknown products and, thus, their risk perception and decision-making. Manufacturers and caregivers are advised to reduce the ambiguity of household chemicals by designing more neutral product packaging and choosing products with more neutral elements, respectively.
本研究调查了学龄前儿童对具有模糊产品特征（如类似食品的包装）的产品的分类和风险认知。这些特征使得学龄前儿童难以正确地对家用化学品进行分类。因此，这增加了意外中毒的风险。我们假设模糊性源于不同的产品特征，如包装类型、产品气味或包装的颜色和透明度。在四项行为任务中，N = 108名学龄前儿童（M = 43个月，标准差 = 3）对具有各种包装类型、颜色和气味的不同产品和家用化学品进行了分类。独立包装的洗碗片比未包装的洗碗片更有可能被归类为可食用的。此外，在过去6个月内与任何类型的洗碗片有过接触的儿童在识别洗碗片方面表现更好，无论包装类型如何。有水果香味的家用化学品比有氯气味的家用化学品更有可能被归类为可饮用的。最后，孩子们认为黑色瓶子更危险，并且比起其他颜色的瓶子，他们对黑色瓶子的偏好更低。相比之下，瓶子的透明度似乎通常不会影响风险认知和偏好。这些发现证实，模糊的产品特征会影响儿童对未知产品的分类，从而影响他们的风险认知和决策。建议制造商和照顾者分别通过设计更中性的产品包装和选择具有更多中性元素的产品来减少家用化学品的模糊性。
