Giving support to close others increases affective risk perceptions: longitudinal and experimental studies

Area of Science:

• Social Psychology
• Risk Perception Research

Background:

• Social contexts significantly influence individual responses to threats.
• The specific impact of support-giving on risk perception remains underexplored.
• A tripartite model categorizes risk perception into deliberative, affective, and experiential components.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate whether and how support-giving alters risk perceptions.
• To examine the relationship between giving social support and changes in risk perception over time.
• To differentiate the effects of support-giving on deliberative, affective, and experiential risk assessments.

Main Methods:

• Two studies were conducted: a longitudinal-correlational study (Study 1) and an experimental study (Study 2).
• Study 1 assessed support-giving and risk perceptions at two time points.
• Study 2 experimentally assigned participants to a support-giving condition or a control group.

Main Results:

• Support-giving at Time 1 correlated with increased affective risk perceptions at Time 2 (Study 1).
• Experimental support-giving led to heightened affective and experiential risk perceptions compared to the control group (Study 2).
• No significant changes in deliberative risk perceptions were observed in either study.

Conclusions:

• Support-giving specifically enhances affective and experiential risk perceptions, not deliberative ones.
• Affective risk perceptions are strong predictors of behavior.
• Support-giving presents a potential pathway for promoting preventative behaviors by influencing emotional and lived threat assessments.