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Related Experiment Videos

Risk avoidance: graphs versus numbers.

Hannah Faye Chua1, J Frank Yates, Priti Shah

  • 1Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1109, USA. hchua@umich.edu

Memory & Cognition
|June 7, 2006
PubMed
Summary
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Graphical risk displays, using pictures, can make people avoid risky choices more effectively. This is because images heighten the perceived danger of unsafe options through cognitive and emotional responses.

Area of Science:

  • Decision Science
  • Risk Perception
  • Visual Communication

Background:

  • Speculation exists that graphical and numerical risk presentations have differing impacts on risk-taking behavior.
  • Previous research has lacked clarity on how the pictorial nature of graphics influences risky decisions or if such effects are real.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate whether the pictorial nature of graphical risk displays influences risk avoidance.
  • To explore the underlying cognitive and affective mechanisms driving this effect.

Main Methods:

  • Two studies were conducted to examine the impact of pictorial graphical displays on risk avoidance.
  • Participants' risk perception and decision-making were assessed in response to different risk presentation formats.

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Main Results:

  • The pictorial nature of graphical risk displays was found to significantly increase risk avoidance.
  • This effect was linked to a heightened perception of the riskiness associated with less safe alternatives.
  • Cognitively, pictorial formats led to weaker internal representations of harm probability; affectively, they evoked stronger negative associations.

Conclusions:

  • Pictorial graphical displays can enhance risk avoidance by intensifying the perceived riskiness of alternatives.
  • This phenomenon is driven by both cognitive (representation of harm probability) and affective (negative associations) mechanisms.