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Environment and Behavior, Vol. 38, No. 5, 689-706 (2006)
DOI: 10.1177/0013916506287637

Assessment of Implicit Meaning in the Design of Graphic Symbols for the Control of Recycled Water Use

Robert C. Mellon

Department of Psychology of the Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences in Athens, Greece

Konstantinos P. Tsagarakis

Department of Economics of the University of Crete in Rethymno, Greece

This article describes the empirical development and validation of graphic symbols to be affixed to sources of recycled water. The symbols are intended to encourage the use of recycled water in ways that do not endanger the environment or public health. The current identification system does not provide specific information concerning levels of quality (pollution levels) of recycled water, nor does it provide positive comparative information. In the design and validation of more effective symbols, cognitive elicitation techniques were used to assess the normative implicit meaning of stimulus values of hue and brightness with respect to five levels of water quality. Although both hue and brightness choices were systematically related to water qualities, the implicit meaning of brightness values was clearer. A validity assessment of the untrained meanings of symbols based on brightness and supplemented by hue supported both their implicit comprehensibility and the empirical strategy employed in their design.

Key Words: cognitive elicitation • graphic symbols • implicit meaning • wastewater • water recycling


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