ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews common methods for developing and testing risk communication messages, including surveys, focus groups, interviews and experiments. All stakeholders could be pleased with the sharing of relevant data, information and knowledge, but the risk communication would fail if the risk is seriously misrepresented or misjudged because of poor risk science. The communication failed, as the nuclear industry experts claimed that they knew the ‘truth’ about the risk and that people would agree if they just were adequately informed. A main task of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is to inform governments and decision-makers at all levels about the state-of-the-art scientific knowledge on climate change risks. Based on risk perception theory and the fact that the epidemic ‘hits all the hot buttons’ for a high perceived risk, risk communication faces a serious dilemma. Behavioral tendencies result from the emotional responses to a few dimensions of the message or situation, including agency, outcome desirability, certainty, fairness and coping potential.
