[Perception of health risks: psychological and social factors].
This article reviews central findings and current developments of psychological and sociological research on the perception of health risks. Risk perception is influenced by numerous psychological, social, political, and cultural factors. These factors can be categorized into (a) risk characteristics, (b) characteristics of the risk perceiving person and his/her situation, and (c) characteristics of risk communication. Thus, besides individual cognitive and affective processing of risk information, social processes of risk amplification (e.g., media effects) are also involved in the construction of individual risk perceptions. We discuss the recommendations for health risk communication that follow from these findings with regard to different communication goals.
Bundesinstitut für Risikobewertung (BfR), Thielallee 88-92, 14195, Berlin, Deutschland. stephanie.kurzenhaeuser@bfr.bund.de
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D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006801:Humans; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D011584:Psychology; D011639:Public Opinion; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods*; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology