Understanding Risk: The Role of Perception, Trust, and Awareness in Risk Management
This article explores the intricate relationship between risk, hazard, exposure, and perception. It discusses how trust influences our fear levels regarding risks, highlights the impact of control and choice on our perceptions, and contrasts natural versus human-made risks. The text delves into how certain factors like dread, uncertainty, familiarity, and equity shape our understanding and response to various risks, from vaccinations to environmental hazards, emphasizing the importance of awareness in risk assessment.
Understanding Risk: The Role of Perception, Trust, and Awareness in Risk Management
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Presentation Transcript
RISK DOES NOT EQUAL HAZARD X EXPOSURE
“By the animal instinct that is awakened in us we are led and protected. It is not conscious; it is far quicker, much more sure, less fallible, than consciousness.” Erich Maria Remarque, All Quiet on the Western Front RISK PERCEPTION
1. TRUST • The more we trust, the less afraid we will be. • The less we trust, the more afraid we will be.
1. TRUST (More Afraid) • Anything connected with industry • Communications from politicians • A decision making process that’s closed (Less Afraid) • Anything connected with consumer groups • Communications from neutral experts (doctors, academics) • A decision making process that’s open
1. TRUST • In the communicator • In the agency that’s supposed to protect you • In the organization creating the risk • In the process
2. BENEFIT v. HARM • Vaccinations • Using a cell phone while you drive • Medical X rays, prescription drugs • That “nice healthy” tan
3. CONTROL (More Afraid) • Flying • Riding as a passenger in the front seat of a motor vehicle • A government process in which you can NOT participate (Less Afraid) • Riding a bike • Driving a motor vehicle • A government process in which you CAN participate
4. CHOICE (More Afraid) • A drug with a side effect NOT reported by the company • A nuclear waste repository a company proposes to build in your town (Less Afraid) • A drug with a side effect that IS reported by the company • INVITING the nuclear waste repository to locate in your town
5. NATURAL V. HUMAN-MADE (More Afraid) • Industrial chemicals • Technologies (cell phones, GM food, nuclear power) • Prescription drugs (Less Afraid) • Organic food • Herbal remedies
6. DREAD (More Afraid) • Plane crash • Anything associated with radiation (cancer) • Pesticides (cancer) (Less Afraid) • Heart disease • Accidents
7. CATASTROPHIC orCHRONIC (More Afraid) • Terrorism • Plane crashes (Less Afraid) • Heart disease, stroke, infectious diseases • Motor vehicle crashes
8. UNCERTAINTY(When we don’t have all the answers, or they’re hard to understand.) (More Afraid) • Terrorism • New technologies • Radiation, chemical products (Less Afraid) • Artificial Sweeteners • Microwave ovens • Electrical and magnetic fields
9. ME OR THEM(Personal vs. Statistical) • Terrorism in “The HoMEland” after September 11, 2001 • Mad Cow disease in Washington State, where the first infected cow in the U.S. was found, versus Washington D.C.
10. FAMILIAR V. NEW (More Afraid) • West Nile Virus when it first arrived in U.S. cities • Mad Cow disease in the U.K. in the 90’s • SARS - 2002 (Less Afraid) • West Nile Virus those cities now • Mad Cow disease in England now • Influenza - 2002
11. CHILDREN • Vaccinations • Mercury • Abduction • Pesticides
12. EQUITY (More Afraid) • Risks to the sick, the handicapped, the poor • Victims of risk who get none of the benefits (Less Afraid) • Risks to the healthy, the able-bodied, the rich • People who get some of the benefits along with the risk
13. AWARENESS (More Afraid) • Terrorism • Cell phones and driving (Less Afraid) • Indoor air pollution • Heart disease
