The Role of Emotions in Risk Communication

Two experiments investigated impacts of hazard types and information deliveries on riskperception, with a focus on the role of emotions. In the first experiment, technologicalhazards aroused stronger emotions, and were considered as riskier than natural hazards. Nodifferences were found between written texts and audio presentation. However, the presenceof pictures aroused stronger emotions and increased the perceived risk. Emotions seemed tobe a mediator between hazard types and the perceived risk, as well as between pictures andthe perceived risk. The second experiment adopted real-world materials from webpage andTV.[...]