Risk Communication: A Mental Models Approach

People today must make decisions about many health, safety, and environmental risks. Nuclear power, HIV/AIDS, radon, vaccines, climate change, and emerging infectious diseases are just some issues that may face them in the news media, ballot box, or doctor’s office. In order to make sound choices they need to get good information. Because their time is limited, that information has to be carefully selected and clearly presented. This book provides a systematic approach for risk communicators and technical experts, hoping to serve the public by providing information about risks. The procedure uses approaches from risk and decision analysis to identify the most relevant information; it uses approaches from psychology and communication theory to ensure that it is understood. This book is written in nontechnical terms, designed to make the approach feasible for anyone willing to try it. It is illustrated with successful communications, on a variety of topics.

• Provides clear step-by-step explanations of how to develop risk communications using a mental models-based approach • Includes numerous practical examples • The approach has a solid theoretical foundation and has received extensive empirical evaluation

1. Introduction; 2. The Carnegie Mellon mental models approach; 3. Creating an expert model of the risk; 4. Mental model interviews; 5. Confirmatory questionnaires; 6. Development and evaluation of communications; 7. Case studies: applications to environmental risks; 8. A mental models approach to HIV/AIDS; 9. Some concluding remarks; Appendices.

‘The authors’ idea of expert models of risk … is a very useful one, both for practitioners and academics doing work in this area. In fact, the chapters outlining these models made a very important and unique contribution in the field of risk communication and for that reason alone the book should be on the reading list of everyone doing research in that area.’ International Journal of Public Opinion Research