How do risk perceptions respond to information? The case of radon

A specialized survey of Maine household's responses to information about the risks associated with radon concentrations in their homes and water supplies was used to evaluate how they form risk perceptions. The findings support a modified form of a Bayesian learning model to describe how individuals used the information to revise their risk perceptions. Moreover, individuals who took some mitigating actions reported lower risk perceptions after that action. The overall results are potentially important to the use of information programs as policy instruments for risk reduction because they indicate that new information can affect risk perceptions in a systematic way. -Authors

Duke Scholars

Author F. Reed Johnson Population Health Sciences