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Bad news has wings : dread risk mediates social amplification in risk communication
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Jagiello, Robert D. and Hills, Thomas Trenholm (2018) Bad news has wings : dread risk mediates social amplification in risk communication. Risk Analysis, 38 (10). pp. 2193-2207. doi:10.1111/risa.13117
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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/risa.13117
Abstract
Social diffusion of information amplifies risk through processes of birth, death, and distortion of message content(1). Dread risk—involving uncontrollable, fatal, involuntary, and catastrophic outcomes (e.g., terrorist attacks and nuclear accidents)—may be particularly susceptible to amplification because of the psychological biases inherent in dread risk avoidance. To test this, initially balanced information about high or low dread topics was given to a set of individuals who then communicated this information through diffusion chains, each person passing a message to the next. A subset of these chains were also re-exposed to the original information. We measured prior knowledge, perceived risk before and after transmission and, at each link, number of positive and negative statements. Results showed that the more a message was transmitted the more negative statements it contained. This was highest for the high dread topic. Increased perceived risk and production of negative messages was closely related to the amount of negative information that was received, with domain knowledge mitigating this effect. Re-exposure to the initial information was ineffectual in reducing bias, demonstrating the enhanced danger of socially transmitted information.
| Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||||
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| Subjects: | B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology H Social Sciences > HM Sociology |
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| Divisions: | Faculty of Science > Psychology | ||||||||
| Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Risk perception, Social influence, Public opinion, Nuclear energy, Food additives | ||||||||
| Journal or Publication Title: | Risk Analysis | ||||||||
| Publisher: | Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd. | ||||||||
| ISSN: | 0272-4332 | ||||||||
| Official Date: | 5 October 2018 | ||||||||
| Dates: |
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| Date of first compliant deposit: | 17 April 2018 | ||||||||
| Volume: | 38 | ||||||||
| Number: | 10 | ||||||||
| Page Range: | pp. 2193-2207 | ||||||||
| DOI: | 10.1111/risa.13117 | ||||||||
| Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||||
| Publication Status: | Published | ||||||||
| Publisher Statement: | "This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Jagiello, R. D. and Hills, T. T. (2018), Bad News Has Wings: Dread Risk Mediates Social Amplification in Risk Communication. Risk Analysis, 38: 2193-2207. which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/risa.13117. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions." | ||||||||
| Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access | ||||||||
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