The inverse relation between risks and benefits: The impact of individual differences in information processing style

Existing research shows that evaluations of the risks and benefits of various hazards (i.e., technologies and activities) are inversely related. The affect heuristic explains the negative relation between risks and benefits, as based on the strength of positive or negative affect associated with a h...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2021-08, Vol.16 (8), p.e0255569-e0255569
Main Authors: Sleboda, Patrycja, Lagerkvist, Carl Johan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Attitudes
Biology and Life Sciences
Cognition
Cognition & reasoning
Cognitive ability
Computer and Information Sciences
Data collection
Data processing
Decision analysis
Decision making
Decision theory
Emotions
Environmental aspects
Evaluation
Health risks
Heuristic
Human information processing
Information processing
Medicine and Health Sciences
Problem solving
Risk
Risk assessment
Social Psychology
Social Sciences
Socialpsykologi
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Summary:Existing research shows that evaluations of the risks and benefits of various hazards (i.e., technologies and activities) are inversely related. The affect heuristic explains the negative relation between risks and benefits, as based on the strength of positive or negative affect associated with a hazard. Research on the affect heuristic previously investigated under which conditions people judge risk and benefits independently, focusing on expertise as a factor that might exempt from inversely related judgements of risk and benefits. Measurements within Dual Process Theories have been found to be associated with rational, analytical decision making and accurate judgments. In this paper we investigated the extent to which rational information processing styles can predict the risk-benefit relation of technologies in a medical and food applications and whether the attitudes influence the strength or direction of the relationship. Using the Need for Cognition Scale (NFC), a psychometric-based risk scale and an explicit measure of attitude, in a representative sample of 3228 Swedes, we found that the high NFC group judged the risks and benefits of technologies to be inversely related. In contrast, the low NFC group judged the risks and benefits to be positively related. These results were confirmed across all studied technologies by applying moderation analysis. We discuss the results in light of recent research on cognitive processing and polarization over technologies’ risks.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0255569