Associations between risk judgements, risk sensitivity, acceptability, trust in authorities and demand for risk reduction measures

The core aim of the current research was to examine associations between risk judgements, risk acceptability, and trust in authorities on the one hand and priority of safety and demand for risk reduction measures. A second aim is to compare risk judgements among lay people, politicians and experts.The results are based on two self completion questionnaire surveys carried out among national samples of the Norwegian public (n=510) and (n=1716) as well as two samples of Norwegian safety experts (n=26) and politicians (n=146. Risk judgements included technological risks, health-related risks, criminality, natural disasters, war and terror, as well as transport-related risks.Contrary to research carried out previously, the present study did not find support for the hypothesis that general risk judgements were significant predictors, neither of priority of safety, nor of demand for risk reduction in transport. However, as expected perceived risk was strongly associated with the respondents’ worry. Worry was a significant predictor of priority of safety as well as for demands for risk reduction measures. Personal worry did not have the same effect on demand for countermeasures as general worry. The results showed that experts demanded less risk reduction than lay people and politicians. The results indicate that this is because they stress the probability more than the other two groups.

کلیدواژه ها:

trust in authorities ، respondents’worry ، technological risks ، health-related risks ، criminality