Abstracts (PDF file, 1.8MB) - Society for Risk Analysis

SRA 2013 Annual Meeting Abstracts
T2-G.1 Zwickle, A*; Wilson, R; The Ohio State University;
zwickle.1@osu.edu
The effects of psychological distance on risk perception,
behavioral intention, and mitigation behavior
Psychological distance, the distance an object is removed from
an individual across the social, spatial, temporal, and
hypothetical domains, has been shown to influence behavior in
a myriad of ways. Our current research uses psychological
distance to increase the weight individuals give to the distant
benefits associated with risk mitigation in order to offset the
effects of temporal discounting. We present our latest round of
research integrating psychological distance into risk
communication in order to encourage greater risk mitigating
behavior in the real world. Results are presented from a
door-to-door survey and an online follow-up survey where the
risks associated with radon were presented as occurring either
psychologically near or far in relation to the individual. We
discuss the effects of psychological distance on risk perception,
behavioral intention, and actual mitigation behavior, as well as
how the personal relevance of the risk influences the direction
of these effects. The implications of our findings and future
possibilities for improving risk communication efforts by
incorporating psychological distance are also discussed.
December 8-11, 2013 - Baltimore, MD