Document Type

Presentation

Publication Date

8-1990

Publisher

Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication

Source Publication

AEJMC Annual Convention

Abstract

Understanding how individuals make sense of messages is of great importance to scholars of risk communication. If, as policy makers suspect, we derive much of our information about risks from both mediated and interpersonal channels rather than from personal experience, then exploring the ability of individuals to comprehend information embedded within those channels is of value. In this manuscript we describe a study that evaluates the impact of risk information from mediated channels by asking subjects to recall the information in ways that may reflect their appraisal of the risk. Specifically, we manipulate both attributes of the ways in which mediated risk messages are stylistically constructed and the content of the messages themselves and then examine individuals' cognitive and affective responses to them by asking respondents to write about the risks in letters to friends. We locate this search for impacts within an evolving conceptualization of the relationship between information and risk judgment, a conceptualization that posits that messages may differentially impact individuals' cognitive and affective responses to risk. The strategy of asking respondents to, in effect, summarize what they read in a form accessible to a friend not only serves as a kind of simulated interpersonal channel but also offers us an opportunity to examine respondents' learning of the central elements of the risk stories used in the study.

Comments

The Impact of Risk Message Content and Construction on Comments about Risks. A paper presented at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication annual conference. Minneapolis, MN. August 1990. Publisher link. © 1990 The Author. Used with permission.

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