ABSTRACT
The intent of risk communication is to forge better alignment between public perceptions of risk and calculated risk (Lundgren 1994). In order to do so, one must understand what is influencing public perceptions of risk, and for much of risk management, in particular, what causes the public to discount many of the risks that experts would identify as a threat to both public and environmental health. Many different frameworks have been proposed to explain perceived risk, and to highlight those factors that may dampen or attenuate public perceptions. The psychometric paradigm (Slovic, Fischhoff et al. 1982), for example, predicts risk perception using two major factors: whether a risk can be controlled; and whether the effects of that risk are known or not. Those risks that are both controllable and familiar are perceived as significantly less dangerous than their actual risk. This method of classification was immensely helpful in understanding why individuals consistently discount those risks that are well understood and participated in voluntarily (i.e. alcohol consumption).
