Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 23, 2026

Measuring the Subjective Value of Risky and Ambiguous Options using Experimental Economics and Functional MRI Methods
Published on: September 19, 2012
The affect heuristic, mortality salience, and risk: domain-specific effects of a natural disaster on risk-benefit
Daniel Västfjäll1, Ellen Peters, Paul Slovic
1Decision Research, Eugene, OR, USA; Department of Behavioral Sciences and Learning, Linköping University, Sweden.
Abstract:
We examine how affect and accessible thoughts following a major natural disaster influence everyday risk perception. A survey was conducted in the months following the 2004 south Asian Tsunami in a representative sample of the Swedish population (N = 733). Respondents rated their experienced affect as well as the perceived risk and benefits of various everyday decision domains. Affect influenced risk and benefit perception in a way that could be predicted from both the affect-congruency and affect heuristic literatures (increased risk perception and stronger risk-benefit correlations). However, in some decision domains, self-regulation goals primed by the natural disaster predicted risk and benefit ratings. Together, these results show that affect, accessible thoughts and motivational states influence perceptions of risks and benefits.
More Related Videos
06:42Continuous Theta Burst Stimulation of the Posterior Medial Frontal Cortex to Experimentally Reduce Ideological Threat Responses
Published on: September 28, 2018
08:24The Joint Effect of Social Comparison and Social Distance on Evaluation of Intertemporal Choice Outcomes in Event-related Potential Studies
Published on: August 25, 2023
Related Concept Videos
The Availability Heuristic
Framing Effects
Fundamental Attribution Error
Hazard Rate
Halo Effect
Factors Affecting Perception
An illustrative example of a perceptual set is the scenario where an airline pilot told...