Foreground:background salience: Explaining the effects of graphical displays on risk avoidance

The purpose of this research was to determine the mechanisms underlying the graphical effect identified by Stone, Yates, and Parker (1997), in which graphical formats for conveying risk information are more effective than numerical formats for increasing risk-avoidant behavior. Two experiments teste...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Organizational behavior and human decision processes 2003, Vol.90 (1), p.19-36
Main Authors: Stone, Eric R., Sieck, Winston R., Bull, Benita E., Frank Yates, J., Parks, Stephanie C., Rush, Carolyn J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Applied psychology
Biological and medical sciences
Cognition
Communication
Decision theory
Ergonomics. Human factors
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Graphs
Human behaviour
Information
Occupational psychology
Organization theory
Organizational behavior
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Risk
Risk management
Studies
Visual aids
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Summary:The purpose of this research was to determine the mechanisms underlying the graphical effect identified by Stone, Yates, and Parker (1997), in which graphical formats for conveying risk information are more effective than numerical formats for increasing risk-avoidant behavior. Two experiments tested whether this graphical effect occurred because the graphical formats used by Stone et al. highlighted the number of people harmed by the focal hazard, causing the decisions to be based mainly on the number of people harmed (which we label the “foreground”) at the expense of the total number of people at risk of harm (which we call the “background”). Specifically, two graphical formats were developed that displayed pictorially both the number of people harmed and the total number at risk, and use of these display formats eliminated the graphical effect. We thus propose that the previously discussed graphical effect was in fact a manifestation of a more general foreground:background salience effect, whereby displays that highlight the number of people harmed at the expense of the total number of people at risk of harm lead to greater risk avoidance. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
ISSN:0749-5978
1095-9920
DOI:10.1016/S0749-5978(03)00003-7