Flirting Risk Perception.pdf

RISK PERCEPTION

Perception

The concept of risk is highly complex. Our understanding of the complexity of the

concept has increased as specialists in different disciplines have investigated what

we mean when we refer to risk.

Risk communication initiatives must be designed to ensure that the messages

target individual groups within the population. To do this one must first find ways of

segregating individual differences and needs, and then include the real concerns of

the public in the risk information provided.

People tend to be particularly resistant to the idea that they are at risk from any

particular hazard. Most people believe that they are in less danger than the

average individual, with a lower than average likelihood of dying from a heart

attack, a lower probability of being burned, or of becoming addicted to drugs; they

tend to feel infallible. For example, virtually all individuals believe that they drive

their vehicles better than average; or that they have less likelihood of getting

cancer than the average person. This unreal optimism is based on the information

available and on a reasoning process that induces us to think that the hazard in

question is not a real threat, even though it may affect persons known to us. All of

this influences people’s response to risk. The message “ this includes you ” is more

difficult to get across than “ many will die .”

Perception is an important factor to be taken into account when communicating

risks. Studies by anthropologists and sociologists have shown that risk perception

and the acceptance of a risk have their roots in cultural and social factors. It has

been argued that the response to a hazard is among the social influences

transmitted by friends, family, colleagues, and respected public officials. In many

cases, however, the perception of risk can be formed through a process of

reasoning on the part of the individual himself/herself.

It is important to transmit information about the magnitude of the risk so that people

may become aware of risks that they had never heard of before; while information

about personal vulnerability is important for the transition from awareness to the

decision to act. The decision to act is not, however, the same thing as acting.

Since most people are concerned about the same things that concern their friends,

they are alert and responsive when presented with evidence that a particular

hazard may (or may not) represent a local concern.

Individuals who feel safe and those whose attitudes reflect some degree of

knowledge about the risk in question experience fewer obstacles to modify their

environment than those who respond defensively. This aspect will have

repercussions when planning activities for a risk communication program.

Defining traits of perception

Researchers on risk perception have studied the characteristics of risk that

influence perception. The conditions defined below have the greatest influence on

the way risks are perceived.

1) Dread

Which idea frightens you more, being eaten by a shark or dying of heart disease?

Both can kill, but heart problems are much more likely to do so. In spite of this, the

most feared deaths are the ones that worry us the most. Cancer, for example,

causes more dread because it is perceived as a terrible way to die. This explains

why hazards that can cause cancer, such as radiation and chemical agents,

arouse intense fears. Fear is a clear example of what we think about a risk in

terms of our intuitive feelings, a process which is called the heuristic effect.

2) Control

Most people feel safe when they drive. Having the steering wheel in their hands

produces a feeling of power, a sense of being in control. If we change places and

ride in the passenger seat, we feel nervous because we are no longer in control.

When people feel that they have some control over the process that determines

the risk facing them, that risk will probably not appear so great as in the case

when they have no control over it.

3) Is it a natural risk or a man-made one?

Nuclear energy sources, as well as mobile telephones or electric and magnetic

fields, are often a greater cause of concern than the radiation produced by the

sun. However, it is a well-known fact that the sun is responsible for a large

number of skin cancers each year. The natural origin of a risk makes people

perceive it as a lesser risk than a man-made one. This factor helps to explain the

widespread public concern about many technologies and products.

4) Choice

A risk that we choose to take seems less hazardous than one imposed upon us

by another person. If you use a mobile telephone while driving, you may perceive

it as hazardous that another driver uses one and you will be angry because of the

risk the other driver imposes on you, even though you are taking the same risk

yourself. You are less concerned about the risk you yourself are taking: your

control over your car influences your risk perception.

5) Effects on children

The survival of the species depends on the survival of its offspring. This explains

why the risks run by children, such as exposure to asbestos at school or the

kidnapping of a young person, appear to be more serious than the same risks in

adults (exposure to asbestos in the workplace or the kidnapping of an adult).

6) New risks

New risks, including the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), Nile virus,

and new technologies and products, tend to be more alarming than those risks

that we have lived with for some time and which our experience has helped us to

put into perspective.

7) Awareness

The more aware we are of a risk, the better we perceive it and the more

concerned we are. For example SARS was given wider coverage, received more

attention, and caused greater concern than influenza, which is responsible for a

large number of deaths each year. Awareness of certain risks can be high or low,

depending on the attention given to them.

8) Possibility of personal impact

Any risk can seem greater to us if we ourselves or someone close to us are the

victims. This explains why the statistical probability is often irrelevant and

ineffective for communicating risks. The closer we are to the risk, and the clearer

our knowledge of its consequences, the greater will be our perception of it.

9) Cost-benefit ratio

Some risk perception analysts and researchers believe that the cost-benefit ratio

is the principal factor that determines how much we fear a given threat. If there is

a perceived benefit in a specific behavior or choice, the risk associated with that

behavior or choice will seem smaller than when no such benefit is perceived.

10) Trust

The more confidence we have in the professionals responsible for our protection

or in government officials or institutions responsible for our exposure to risk (for

example, environmental officials or industrial managers) or in the people who

transmit risk information to us, the less fear we will feel. The less we trust them,

the greater will be our level of concern.

11) Memory of risks

A memorable accident makes a risk easier to evoke and imagine, and therefore it

can seem greater (for example, many people remember the methyl isocyanate

gas leak in Bhopal, India, that affected thousands of persons). The experiences

that people have had are an important element in their risk perception. A person’s

experience will determine whether he or she attaches greater importance to one

particular risk than to other statistically significant ones.

12) Spread over space and time

Unusual events such as nuclear accidents are perceived as riskier than

commonplace risks (collisions on the highway).

13) Effects on personal safety and personal properties

An event is perceived as risky when it affects basic interests and values; for

example, health, housing, the value of property, and the future.

14) Fairness

People who have to face greater risks than others and who do not have access

to benefits normally become indignant. The community believes that there

should be a fair distribution of benefits and of risks.

15) Process

The agency or government must demonstrate trustworthiness, honesty and

concern about impacts on the community. In addition, it needs to communicate

with the population before making decisions, and establish a relationship of

mutual respect. It should also listen to the people, and respond to any doubts or

questioning on their part. When these conditions are not met, the perception of

the risk in question is negatively affected.

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

Abraham Maslow developed the theory of humanism, and one of his major

contributions to psychology was his theory of human needs, put forward in the late

1960s, where he explains that human needs are hierarchical in nature.

According to Maslow, people do not merely respond to mechanical forces (the

stimuli and reinforcement forces of behaviorism) or the unconscious instinctual

impulses of psychoanalysis, but to everything that contributes to their human

potential. From this viewpoint, people make an effort to achieve the highest levels

of consciousness and wisdom.

People at this level and below were labeled by other psychologists as "fully

functioning " or possessing a " healthy personality ". Maslow called the people who

were at the top "self-actualizing" persons.

The theory of human needs has a hierarchical order of five levels. Maslow placed

the animal or instinctive needs at the base of a pyramid and the human needs at

the top. The persons who are at the base do not focus on values, but rather on the

need for survival. A person suffering from hunger has his or her thoughts on food.

For most people, each level of the pyramid depends on the level below it.

Level 1 Physiological or biological needs for survival. Included at this level are

oxygen, food, water, protection from heat or cold, and shelter from other

inclement natural events. These needs are very important, because if an

individual cannot satisfy them, he can die.

Level 2 Safety needs. Very important in situations of emergency or times of

social unrest (such as anarchy and social violence).

Level 3 Psychological needs: These include such needs as the need to give and

receive affection, the need to belong to a group, and to prevent

loneliness or alienation.

Level 4 Self-Esteem needs. The need for a stable base of self-esteem and the

respect of others; important if we are to feel satisfied, confident and

valued.

Level 5 Self-Actualization needs. Maslow describes self-actualization as a

process in which people are dedicated to an activity that they consider

very valuable, sometimes called a vocation. Normally they are people

who are healthy, creative, sagacious, and dedicated to what they do,

with a vision of humanity different from that of others.

According to Maslow, self-actualization is a calling that persons perceive to do

what they assume as a mission in their lives. This is what musicians, poets, and

writers experience. However, self-actualized persons can dedicate themselves to

any other activity creatively and with commitment. If these self-actualization needs

are not satisfied, the person feels uneasy, irritated, tense or has the feeling that

there is something else he needs to do. The needs of the lower levels produce

similar feelings, but in this case the cause is easy to identify; if a person lacks food,

affection, acceptance or self-esteem, the cause is apparent.

This hierarchical pyramid follows.

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