risk perception 1 - importance and behaviour

Question 1

risk definition

Answer 1

no one agreed definition

potential of gaining or losing something of value from an action or inaction which can be foreseen or unforeseen

values = physical/emotional health, social status, financial wealth

Question 2

define risk perception

Answer 2

subjective judgement made about severity and probability of risk

varies from person to person

study of it –> from observation that experts and lay people disagree about how risky various things are

Question 3

study - are people objective

Answer 3

slovic et al (1981)

asked people to rank different activities by risk of death (30 activities)

also asked to predict number of people who die each year from it

4 groups of people - college, students, club members, experts

results:

• technical expert judgements = inline with objective data
• lay peoples judgements do not agree with objective data
• lay peoples judgements of risk doesn’t agree with their estimates of annual fatalities (e.g. women and students gave nuclear power a high risk value but give it lowest in terms of annual fatalities)

Question 4

differences in objectivity with media coverage

Answer 4

the boston marathon bombing = killed 3 = high coverage

west fertilizer company = 15 killed = almost no coverage

beirut port explosion = 204 killed, 7500+ injured = international coverage

can perceive events as a greater risk if there’s more coverage

Question 5

risk perception affecting political attitudes (2)

Answer 5

level of perceived risk predicts support for aggressive anti-terrorism strategies

lower perceived risk of COVID in a state correlated with high percentage of Trump supporters

Question 6

risk perception affecting behaviour (2)

Answer 6

risk perception correlated with health behaviours during COVID in countries in europe, america, and asia

1500 americans died on the road following 9/11 – because they drove instead of flying to avoid the risk

Question 7

risk perceptions affect economy and society (2)

Answer 7

the Salisbury Novichok poisonings resulted in decreased footfall there - needing £3.7m fund from gov to recover

the recession in the UK in 2020 of 20.4% from lockdowns

Question 8

risk perception allowing better communication (2)

Answer 8

people are more concerned about radiation from a dirty bomb than the explosion - can use this discrepancy to encourage better communication as the explosion is actually more danegrous

vaccine side effect fears reduced willingness to be vaccinated against COVID

Question 9

using risk perception to direct policy (2)

Answer 9

public perception of climate risk predicts support for climate change policies

people who viewed COVID as more risky supported the lockdowns more

Question 10

risk perception and behaviour model

Answer 10

the protection motivation theory

Question 11

protection motivation theory (PMT)

Answer 11

protecive behaviours occur when individuals have high protection motivation

protection motivation = motivate that arouses, sustains, and directs activity

measure using intentions for relevant behaviour

2 cognitive appraisals:

• threat appraisal
• coping appraisal

Question 12

PMT - 2 cognitive appraisals

Answer 12

threat appraisal
coping appraisal

Question 13

threat appraisal

Answer 13

considers the risky behaviour e.g. smoking

• perceived severity of the threat
• probability of being vulnerable to the threat
• reward of risky behaviour

Question 14

coping appraisal

Answer 14

considers the adaptive/protective behaviour

• response efficacy (the efficacy of a health behaviour for dealing with the threat)
• self-efficacy or confidence for being able to engage in behaviour
• response cost of adaptive behaviour (e.g. if you don’t smoke you don’t get the calming effects)

Question 15

protection motivation theory pathways

Answer 15

severity and vulnerability - rewards = threat appraisal –> PM

response efficacy and self efficacy - response costs = coping appraisal –> PM

threat and coping appraisals interact to influence motivation for the protective behaviour

idea of weighing up options - reward outweighs the cost

Question 16

effect of believing you can cope on protective behaviours

Answer 16

believe they can cope:
greater perceived threat = greater intention for protective behaviour

don’t think they can cope:
greater perceived threat = less intention for protective behaviour

Question 17

evidence for PMT - health behaviours review

Answer 17

meta-analysis of 65 studies on health behaviours

• increases in severity + vulnerability = increased adaptive intentions or behaviours
• increases in response efficacy + self efficacy = increased adaptive intentions or behaviour
• increases in rewards of risky behaviour + protective behaviour cost = decreased adaptive intentions or behaviours

overall = coping variables showed slightly stronger relations with adaptive behaviours than threat variables

Question 18

evidence for PMT - cervical cancer prevention

Answer 18

randomised controlled trial
effect of PMT on preventing cervical cancer in Iran

questionnaire with PMT constructs

experimental group = received educational intervention based on PMT
- 6 sessions of lectures, discussions, q+a’s with many related topics

results:
- significant effect of intervention on PMT construct scores
- increased cervical screening attendance and health centre enquiries about screening after 3 months
- not seen in the control group

Question 19

limitations of studies on PMT (5)

Answer 19

• measure intention not behaviours
• intention measurement is vague with no time frame (e.g. just “the future”) –> people with more perceived vulnerability may intend to change behaviour earlier than others
• self-report measures used (social desirability bias, recall bias)
• measurements of PMT constructs are often not validated/reliable
• experimental manipulations used to measure PMT –> but mediation analysis isn’t always used –> intervention may not be causing the changes in behaviour (mediation = finding mechanisms through which a change occurs)

Question 20

limitation of PMT studies - smaller relationships between threat appraisals and protective behaviours

Answer 20

could be because threat appraisals are better predictors of behaviours intended to reduce specific health threats e.g., getting vaccinated

but less for behaviours that have a variety of health, social and economic consequences e.g. exercise, diet

correlation between perceived vulnerability and vaccination intentions is stronger than behaviours with wider consequences