Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

Varying risk comparison elements: effects on public reactions.

Branden B Johnson1

  • 1Bureau of Risk Analysis, Division of Science, Research and Technology, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, Trenton, NJ, USA. Branden.Johnson@dep.state.nj.us

Risk Analysis : an Official Publication of the Society for Risk Analysis
|March 19, 2004
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Text mining of practical disaster reports: Case study on Cascadia earthquake preparedness.

PloS one·2025
Same author

Trust and trustworthy artificial intelligence: A research agenda for AI in the environmental sciences.

Risk analysis : an official publication of the Society for Risk Analysis·2023
Same author

How people decide who is correct when groups of scientists disagree.

Risk analysis : an official publication of the Society for Risk Analysis·2023
Same author

Cross-temporal relations of conditional risk perception measures with protective actions against COVID-19.

Social science & medicine (1982)·2023
Same author

Trust, confidence, familiarity, and support for land-based recirculating aquaculture facilities.

Risk analysis : an official publication of the Society for Risk Analysis·2022
Same author

Information effects on lay tradeoffs between national regulatory costs and benefits.

Risk analysis : an official publication of the Society for Risk Analysis·2022

Risk comparison messaging has limited impact on public perception of hazards. Specific message designs, like multidimensional comparisons, can increase negative risk reactions, but overall concern about asbestos remains the dominant factor.

Area of Science:

  • Environmental Psychology
  • Risk Communication
  • Behavioral Science

Background:

  • Limited empirical data exists on how risk comparisons influence public perception.
  • Previous research by Slovic et al. (1990) established a hypothetical scenario involving an asbestos-installing firm and a junior high school.
  • Understanding public response to risk information is crucial for effective risk management and policy.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the influence of varying risk comparison elements on public response.
  • To explore how different message design attributes affect risk perception and judgment.
  • To identify which factors, including message design and pre-existing concerns, most significantly shape risk attitudes.

Main Methods:

  • A pilot experiment using a hypothetical asbestos trial scenario with 309 New Jersey residents.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Participants acted as jurors and rated risk, guilt, liability, and remediation decisions.
  • Information varied four comparison attributes: dimensionality, mortality expression, narrative presence, and participant role (juror vs. parent).

    • Main Results:

    • Overall concern about asbestos significantly outweighed the effects of risk comparison format variations.
    • Absence of a narrative and a parental role increased negative risk reactions.
    • Multidimensionality of risk comparisons significantly increased negative reactions, even when controlling for other factors.

    Conclusions:

    • The impact of risk comparison information on risk views may be relatively small compared to pre-existing concerns.
    • Specific message design elements, such as multidimensionality and narrative, can influence risk perception.
    • Further research is needed to fully understand the nuances of risk message design and its effects on public response.