ABSTRACT
This chapter highlights a need to include risk perception in risk assessment models. It focuses on how risks are calculated, assessed, and perceived by experts and the public. Risk is often a contested and controversial subject. Cognitive theories have a micro-level orientation in that risks are associated with individual traits and characteristics. Cognitive theories encompass a loose theoretical framework that assumes risk is subjectively defined by individuals who may be influenced by a wide array of psychological, social, institutional, and cultural factors. In summary, cognitive theories follow the work of the rational decision-making models most often employed by economists and engineers. Cultural theory argues that people perceive risks through social or cultural institutions, which comprise four collective worldviews. The advantages of the multidisciplinary IRGC framework are that it provides policy makers and decision makers with a broader understanding of the issues and context in which the risk is embedded and focuses on risk governance.
