The Perception of Risk
By Paul Slovic
'An illuminating and important book [that] covers a great deal of ground.'
Harvard Law Review.
Paperback
The concept of risk is an outgrowth of our society's great concern about coping with the dangers of modern life. The Perception of Risk brings together the work of Paul Slovic, one of the world's leading analysts of risk, risk perception and risk management, to examine the gap between expert views of risk and public perceptions. Ordered chronologically, it allows the reader to see the evolution of our understanding of such perceptions, from early studies identifying public misconceptions of risk to recent work that recognizes the importance and legitimacy of equity, trust, power and other value-laden issues underlying public concern.
'Slovic brings fresh insights on how others think of 'risk'.
Risk Management Reports
'An invaluable collection of articles for those seeking an in-depth analysis of risk perceptions.'
Food, Nutrition and Agriculture
'Everyone, whether a fan of the (extended) psychometric paradigm or not, will like to have in its own library this book as a handy reference.'
Journal of Socio-Economics
CONTENTS
Decision Processes, Rationality and Adjustment to Natural Hazards
Cognitive Processes and Societal Risk Taking
Preference for Insuring Against Probable Small Losses: Insurance Implications
Accident Probabilities and Seat Belt Usage: A Psychological Perspective
How Safe Is Safe Enough? A Psychometric Study of Attitudes Toward Technological Risks and Benefits
Rating the Risks
Weighing the Risks: Which Risks are Acceptable?
Facts and Fears: Understanding Perceived Risk
Response Mode, Framing and Information-processing Effects in Risk Assessment
The Nature of Technological Hazard
Informing and Educating the Public about Risk
Perception of Risk from Automobile Safety Defects
Perception of Risk
The Social Amplification of Risk: A Conceptual Framework
The Perception and Management of Therapeutic Risk
Perception of Risk from Radiation
Perceived Risk, Trust and the Politics of Nuclear Waste
Intuitive Toxicology: Expert and Lay Judgments of Chemical Risks
Perceived Risk, Trust and Democracy
Adolescent Health-threatening and Health-enhancing Behaviors: A Study of Word Association and Imagery
Technological Stigma
Probability, Danger and Coercion: A Study of Risk Perception and Decision-making in Mental Health Law
Do Adolescent Smokers Know the Risks?
Insensitivity to the Value of a Human Life: A Study of Psychophysical Numbing
Trust, Emotion, Sex, Politics and Science: Surveying the Risk-assessment Battlefield
The Affect Heuristic in Judgments of Risks and Benefits
Paul Slovic is President of Decision Research and Professor of Psychology at the University of Oregon.