The Role of the Affect and Availability Heuristics in Risk Communication

Results of past research suggest that affect plays an important role in risk perception. Because affect may also increase the availability of risks, affect and availability are closely related concepts. Three studies tested the hypothesis that evoking negative affect (fear), either through past expe...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Risk analysis 2006-06, Vol.26 (3), p.631-639
Main Authors: Keller, Carmen, Siegrist, Michael, Gutscher, Heinz
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Affect
Affect heuristic
Attitude
availability heuristic
Communication
Decision Making
Female
flood risk
Floods
Heuristic
Heuristics
Humans
Information dissemination
Male
Perception
Perceptions
Persuasive Communication
Probability
Risk
Risk Assessment
risk communication
Risk management
Studies
Time Factors
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Summary:Results of past research suggest that affect plays an important role in risk perception. Because affect may also increase the availability of risks, affect and availability are closely related concepts. Three studies tested the hypothesis that evoking negative affect (fear), either through past experience or through experimental manipulation, results in greater perceived risk. The present research focused on perception of flooding risk. Study 1 and Study 2 showed that participants who received risk information concerning a longer time period (e.g., 30 years) perceived more danger compared with participants who received risk information for one year. Study 2 showed that the interpretation of risk information was influenced by participants' own experiences with flooding. In Study 3, affect was experimentally manipulated. After looking at photographs depicting houses in a flooded region, participants perceived greater risk compared with participants in a control group. Taken together, the results of these three studies suggest that affect is important for successful risk communication. Results of the present research are in line with the affect heuristic proposed by Slovic and colleagues.
ISSN:0272-4332
1539-6924
DOI:10.1111/j.1539-6924.2006.00773.x