title: Gist Representations and Communication of Risks about HIV-AIDS: A Fuzzy-Trace Theory Approach.
abstract: As predicted by fuzzy-trace theory, people with a range of training—from untrained adolescents to expert physicians—are susceptible to biases and errors in judgment and perception of HIV-AIDS risk. To explain why this occurs, we introduce fuzzy-trace theory as a theoretical perspective that describes these errors to be a function of knowledge deficits, gist-based representation of risk categories, retrieval failure for risk knowledge, and processing interference (e.g., base-rate neglect) in combining risk estimates. These principles explain how people perceive HIV-AIDS risk and why they take risks with potentially lethal outcomes, often despite rote (verbatim) knowledge.For example, people inappropriately generalize the wrong gist about condoms' effectiveness against fluid-borne disease to diseases that are transferred skin-to-skin, such as HPV. We also describe how variation in processing in adolescence (e.g., more verbatim processing compared to adults) can be a route to risk-taking that explains key aspects of why many people are infected with HIV in youth, as well as how interventions that emphasize bottom-line gists communicate risks effectively.
authors.forename: Evan A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Wilhelms
authors.affiliation: Departments of Human Development and Psychology, Center for Behavioral Economics and Decision Research, Cornell University, B44 Martha Van Rensselaer Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA. vr53@cornell.edu.
authors.forename: Valerie F
authors.initials: VF
authors.lastname: Reyna
authors.forename: Priscila
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Brust-Renck
authors.forename: Rebecca B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Weldon
authors.forename: Jonathan C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Corbin
mesh_terms: D015982:Bias; D003142:Communication; D003376:Counseling; D017143:Fuzzy Logic; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000635:transmission; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment; D012306:Risk