Who would have thought something so simple really could be such a bone of contention - I believe they have trained rats to react to certain lights being illuminated in their cages yet after more than 100 years of aviation it seems that SOME people will always know better.
You raise an interesting angle.
I am a management consultant and I specialise in organizational change management, which incorporates behavioural change, I have about 15 years experience and am qualified to masters degree level, as well as having a diploma in trick cycling. As well as ‘pure’ consulting work, I also get involved in workshops and training courses to help people acquire new attitudes and skills.
Mentioning the famous rat experiments is a double edged sword, which cuts back at the airline industry, as well as the passengers, who I hasten to add I am not defending for ignoring the belt sign.
Operant conditioning (as demonstrated in the rat experiments, which you can find on You Tube) is based on two principles, positive reinforcement or negative reinforcement and is different to punishment, since reinforcement seeks to create behaviour, whilst punishment seeks to stop it, by applying a sanction.
Positive reinforcement involves giving a reward for a desired behaviour, e.g. if the rat presses a lever, then it receives a food pellet.
Negative reinforcement means that in return for a desired behaviour, an unpleasant stimulus will be removed, in the case of the rats, pressing the lever cuts off the (low, but uncomfortable) supply of electricity to the cage floor.
These experiments (and others) demonstrate that patterns of behaviour can be created, but also that these behaviours will disappear without reinforcement.
In the famous dog experiment, Pavlov’s research showed that dogs conditioned to salivate at the sound of a bell would cease to do so if the food associated with the bell was removed permanently.
Now, if you subdue your cognitive bias (“yet after more than 100 years of aviation it seems that SOME people will always know better”) and really think about the research, you may come to some conclusions from your empirical observations as a cabin crew member.
1. What the average passenger knows about aviation can be written on a postage stamp and most if it is wrong, e.g how do passengers judge a good/bad landing?
2. There is no education process to teach the average passenger about the dangers of turbulence, apart from rather bland briefings that lack impact
3. Positive reinforcement is not an option, what are you going to go, hand out prizes for buckling up? I suppose you could do a quiz post brief, for prizes!
4. Negative reinforcement (the best option IMHO) is generally lacking – I wish that crew would talk to the passengers as you talk here and tell them of the injuries that you have seen, so that they learn (like the rates) to comply
5. Even punishment is not often applied – I could pull my hair out when cabin crew don’t tell passengers to sit down when the belt sign is on – I’ve had people in the aisle next to me taking heavy cases down from the overheads in light chop – one big bump and I get it – no reaction at all from the crew
I wonder even how many irregular passengers realise that the FSB sign is a command from the captain, as opposed to an advisory?
Finally, many participant travel only once or twice a year and they simply forget and like Pavlov’s dogs, lose their conditioning.
None of which excuses some of the idiotic behaviour, but I’d thought I’d just take a few minutes to share something form my world, that might help you understand behaviour a little more.