The Perception of Risk

by Slovic, Paul

• ISBN13: 9781853835278
• ISBN10: 1853835277
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-03-01
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

The concept of risk is an outgrowth of our society's great concern about coping with the dangers of modern life. "The Perception of Risk" brings together the work of Paul Slovic, one of the world's leading analysts of risk, risk perception and risk management. It examines the gap between the expert view of risk and public perceptions of it. Presented in chronological order, it allows the reader to see the evolution of such perceptions of risk over the years, from highlighting public misconceptions of risk to recent work that recognizes the importance of equity, trust, power and other value-laden issues underlying public concern. New methods for assessing perceptions are described, as are implications for regulation and public policy. In a new departure, the perceptions of adolescents as well as adults, are examined. In an excellent overview of the critical issues involved in risk perception, this volume examines issues such as: societal risk taking; decision making in mental health law; rating risks; facts versus fears; informing and educating the public about risk; perceived risks and the politics of nuclear waste; and perceived risk, trust and democracy. Written by the expert in the field of risk studies, this eagerly awaited volume provides an essential guide to all those who have an interest in the public perception of risk including regulators, lawyers, policy makers and the business community as well as academics from the fields of public health and environment, economics, sociology and political science

Author Biography

Paul Slovic is President of Decision Research and Professor of Psychology at the University of Oregon

Table of Contents

List of Figures	viii
List of Tables	xi
Foreword	xv
Gilbert F White
Acknowledgments	xvii
Acronyms and Abbreviations	xix
Introduction and Overview	xxi
Paul Slovic
Decision Processes, Rationality and Adjustment to Natural Hazards	1	(31)
Paul Slovic
Howard Kunreuther
Gilbert White
Cognitive Processes and Societal Risk Taking	32	(19)
Paul Slovic
Baruch Fischhoff
Sarah Lichtenstein
Preference for Insuring Against Probable Small Losses: Insurance Implications	51	(22)
Paul Slovic
Baruch Fischhoff
Sarah Lichtenstein
Bernard Corrigan
Barbara Combs
Accident Probabilities and Seat Belt Usage: A Psychological Perspective	73	(7)
Paul Slovic
Baruch Fischhoff
Sarah Lichtenstein
How Safe Is Safe Enough? A Psychometric Study of Attitudes Toward Technological Risks and Benefits	80	(24)
Baruch Fischhoff
Paul Slovic
Sarah Lichtenstein
Stephen Read
Barbara Combs
Rating the Risks	104	(17)
Paul Slovic
Baruch Fischhoff
Sarah Lichtenstein
Weighing the Risks: Which Risks are Acceptable?	121	(16)
Baruch Fischhoff
Paul Slovic
Sarah Lichtenstein
Facts and Fears: Understanding Perceived Risk	137	(17)
Paul Slovic
Baruch Fischhoff
Sarah Lichtenstein
Response Mode, Framing and Information-processing Effects in Risk Assessment	154	(14)
Paul Slovic
Baruch Fischhoff
Sarah Lichtenstein
The Nature of Technological Hazard	168	(14)
Christoph Hohenemser
Robert W Kates
Paul Slovic
Informing and Educating the Public about Risk	182	(17)
Paul Slovic
Perception of Risk from Automobile Safety Defects	199	(21)
Paul Slovic
Donald G MacGregor
Nancy N Kraus
Perception of Risk	220	(12)
Paul Slovic
The Social Amplification of Risk: A Conceptual Framework	232	(14)
Roger E Kasperson
Ortwin Renn
Paul Slovic
Halina S Brown
Jacque Emel
Robert Goble
Jeanne X Kasperson
Samuel Ratick
The Perception and Management of Therapeutic Risk	246	(18)
Paul Slovic
Perception of Risk from Radiation	264	(11)
Paul Slovic
Perceived Risk, Trust and the Politics of Nuclear Waste	275	(10)
Paul Slovic
James Flynn
Mark Layman
Intuitive Toxicology: Expert and Lay Judgments of Chemical Risks	285	(31)
Nancy Kraus
Torbjorn Malmfors
Paul Slovic
Perceived Risk, Trust and Democracy	316	(11)
Paul Slovic
Adolescent Health-threatening and Health-enhancing Behaviors: A Study of Word Association and Imagery	327	(14)
Alida Benthin
Paul Slovic
Patricia Moran
Herbert Severson
C K Mertz
Meg Gerrard
Technological Stigma	341	(6)
Robin Gregory
James Flynn
Paul Slovic
Probability, Danger and Coercion: A Study of Risk Perception and Decision-making in Mental Health Law	347	(17)
Paul Slovic
John Monahan
Do Adolescent Smokers Know the Risks?	364	(8)
Paul Slovic
Insensitivity to the Value of a Human Life: A Study of Psychophysical Numbing	372	(18)
David Fetherstonhaugh
Paul Slovic
Stephen M Johnson
James Friedrich
Trust, Emotion, Sex, Politics and Science: Surveying the Risk-assessment Battlefield	390	(23)
Paul Slovic
The Affect Heuristic in Judgments of Risks and Benefits	413	(17)
Melissa L Finucane
Ali Alhakami
Paul Slovic
Stephen M Johnson
References	430	(32)
Index	462