Precision of Information, Sensational Information, and Self-Efficacy Information as Message-Level Variables Affecting Risk Perceptions

Risk Analysis

Volumn 32, Issue 1, 2012, Pages 155-166

  Dahlstrom, Michael F ^a   Dudo, Anthony ^a   Brossard, Dominique ^a  

^a IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

Mass media; Precision; Risk communication; Self efficacy; Sensationalism

Indexed keywords

MASS MEDIA; PRECISION; RISK COMMUNICATION; SELF EFFICACY; SENSATIONALISM;

BEHAVIORAL RESEARCH; RISK PERCEPTION;

HEALTH RISKS;

EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS; HEALTH RISK; MASS MEDIA; QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS; RISK FACTOR; RISK PERCEPTION; SENSE OF PLACE;

ADULT; ARTICLE; CONSUMER HEALTH INFORMATION; HUMAN; MASS MEDIUM; PERCEPTION; RISK;

CONSUMER HEALTH INFORMATION; HUMANS; MASS MEDIA; PERCEPTION; RISK; YOUNG ADULT;

EID: 84855328151     PISSN: 02724332     EISSN: 15396924     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1539-6924.2011.01641.x     Document Type: Article

References (50)

1. O'Keefe GJ, Boyd HH, Brown MR. Who learns preventive health care information from where: Cross-channel and repertoire comparisons. Health Communication, 1998; 10(1):25-36.
2. Nelkin D. Selling Science: How the Press Covers Science and Technology. 2nd edition. New York: WH Freeman, 1995.
3. Allan S. Media, Risk and Society. Philadelphia, PA: Open University Press, 2002.
4. Kahlor L, Rosenthal S. If we seek, do we learn? Predicting knowledge of global warming. Science Communication, 2009; 30(3):380-414.
5. Zhao XQ. Media use and global warming perceptions: A snapshot of the reinforcing spirals. Communication Research, 2009; 36(5):698-723.
6. Brossard D, Nisbet MC. Deference to scientific authority among a low information public: Understanding US Opinion on agricultural biotechnology. International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 2007; 19(1):24-52.
7. Priest SH. Misplaced faith-Communication variables as predictors of encouragement for biotechnology development. Science Communication, 2001; 23(2):97-110.
8. Besley JC, McComas KA, Waks L. Media use and the perceived justice of local science authorities. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 2006; 83(4):801-818.
9. Lee CJ, Scheufele DA. The influence of knowledge and deference toward scientific authority: A media effects model for public attitudes toward nanotechnology. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 2006; 83(4):819-834.
10. Ho SS, Brossard D, Scheufele DA. Effects of value predispositions, mass media use, and knowledge on public attitudes toward embryonic stem cell research. International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 2008; 20(2):171-192.
11. Fiske ST, Taylor SE. Social Cognition. 2nd edition. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1991.
12. Singer E, Endreny PM. Reporting on Risk: How the Mass Media Portray Accidents, Diseases, Disasters, and Other Hazards. New York: Russell Sage Foundation Publications, 1993.
13. Roche JP. Print media coverage of risk-risk tradeoffs associated with West Nile encephalitis and pesticide spraying. Journal of Urban Health-Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine, 2002; 79(4):482-490.
14. Signorielli N. Mass Media Images and the Impact on Health: A Sourcebook. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1993.
15. Friedman S, Gorney J, Egolf B. Reporting on radiation: A content analysis of Chernobyl coverage. Journal of Communication, 1987; 15(4):449-458.
16. Rossow MD, Dunwoody S. Inclusion of useful detail in newspaper coverage of a high-level nuclear waste siting controversy. Journalism Quarterly, 1991; 68(1-2):87-100.
17. Gorney C. Numbers versus pictures: Did network television sensationalize Chernobyl coverage? Journalism Quarterly, 1992; 69(2):455-465.
18. Freudenberg W, Coleman C, Gonzales J, Helgeland C. Media coverage of hazard events: Analyzing and assumptions. Risk Analysis, 1995; 16:31-42.
19. Friedman S, Gorney J, Egolf B. Reporting on radiation: A content analysis of Chernobyl coverage. Journal of Communication, 1987; 15(4):449-458.
20. Covello VT, Peters RG, Wojtecki JG, Hyde RC. Risk communication, the West Nile virus epidemic, and bioterrorism: Responding to the communication challenges posed by the intentional or unintentional release of a pathogen in an urban setting. Journal of Urban Health-Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine, 2001; 78(2):382-391.
21. Witte K. Generating effective risk messages: How scary should your risk communication be. Pp. 229-254 in Burelson BR, (ed). Communication Yearbook. Thousand Oaks, 1995.
22. Roche JP, Muskavitch MA. Limited precision in print media communication of West Nile Virus risks. Science Communication, 2003; 24(3):353-365.
23. Public's Right to Information Task Force. Staff Report to the President's Commission on the Accident at Three Mile Island. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1979.
24. Lichter SR, Rothman S. Environmental Cancer: A Political Disease? New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1999.
25. Dudo A, Dahlstrom MF, Brossard D. Reporting a potential pandemic: A risk-related assessment of avian influenza coverage in U.S. newspapers. Science Communication, 2007; 28(4):429-454.
26. Dunwoody S, Sandman PM, Sachsman DB, Greenberg MR, Gochfeld M. Environmental risk and the press. Journalism Quarterly, 1988; 65(2):537-538.
27. Witte K. Putting the fear back into fear appeals-The extended parallel process model. Communication Monographs, 1992; 59(4):329-349.
28. Dillard JP. Rethinking the study of fear appeals-An emotional perspective. Communication Theory, 1994; 4(4):295-323.
29. Griffin RJ, Dunwoody S, Neuwirth K. Proposed model of the relationship of risk information seeking and processing to the development of preventive behaviors. Environmental Research, 1999; 80(2):S230-S245.
30. Peters E, Slovic P, Hibbard JH, Tusler M. Why worry? Worry, risk perceptions, and willingness to act to reduce medical errors. Health Psychology, 2006; 25(2):144-152.
31. Slovic P, Peters E, Finucane ML, MacGregor DG. Affect, risk, and decision making. Health Psychology, 2005; 24(4):S35-S40.
32. O'Keefe DJ. Message properties, mediating states, and manipulation checks: Claims, evidence, and data analysis in experimental persuasive message effects research. Communication Theory, 2003; 13(3):251-274.
33. Coleman CL. The influence of mass-media and interpersonal-communication on societal and personal risk judgments. Communication Research, 1993; 20(4):611-628.
34. Leiserowitz A. Before and after the day after tomorrow: A U.S. study of climate change risk perception. Environment, 2004; 46(9):22-37.
35. Neuwirth K, Dunwoody S, Griffin RJ. Protection motivation and risk communication. Risk Analysis, 2000; 20(5):721-734.
36. Slovic P, Finucane ML, Peters E, MacGregor DG. Risk as analysis and risk as feelings: Some thoughts about affect, reason, risk, and rationality. Risk Analysis, 2004; 24(2):311-322.
37. Slovic P, Peters E. Risk perception and affect. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 2006; 15(6):322-325.
38. Rothman AJ, Bartels RD, Wlaschin J, Salovey P. The strategic use of gain- and loss-framed messages to promote healthy behavior: How theory can inform practice. Journal of Communication, 2006; 56:S202-S220.
39. Maheswaran D, Meyerslevy J. The influence of message framing and issue involvement. Journal of Marketing Research, 1990; 27(3):361-367.
40. Johnson BB, Sandman PM, Miller P. Testing the role of technical information in public risk perception. RISK: Issues in Health and Safety, 1992; Fall:341-364.
41. Palmgreen P, Donohew L, Lorch EP, Hoyle RH, Stephenson MT. Television campaigns and adolescent marijuana use: Tests of sensation seeking targeting. American Journal of Public Health, 2001; 91(2):292-296.
42. Noar SM. A 10-year retrospective of research in health mass media campaigns: Where do we go from here? Journal of Health Communication, 2006; 11(1):21-42.
43. Covert TJA, Wasburn PC. Measuring media bias: A content analysis of Time and Newsweek coverage of domestic social issues, 1975-2000. Social Science Quarterly, 2007; 88(3):690-706.
44. McComas KA. Defining moments in risk communication research: 1996-2005. Journal of Health Communication, 2006; 11(1):75-91.
45. EPA. Sick Building Syndrome 2006 [updated 2006; cited 2006 Dec. 12]; Available at:
46. Witte K. Fear control and danger control-A test of the extended parallel process model (EPPM). Communication Monographs, 1994; 61(2):113-134.
47. Dunwoody S, Neuwirth K. Coming to terms with the impact of communication of scientific and technological risk judgments. In Wilkins L, Patterson P (eds). Risky Business: Communicating Issues of Science, Risk and Public Policy. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1991.
48. Tyler TR. The impact of directly and indirectly exprienced events: The origins of crime-related judgments and behaviors. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1980; 38:13-28.
49. Tyler TR, Cook FL. The mass-media and judgments of risk-Distinguishing impact on personal and societal level judgments. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1984; 47(4):693-708.
50. Iyengar S. Is anyone responsible? How TV frames political issues. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1991.