Article

 

The way people and societies perceive the nature and context of risk is different, due to psychological and cultural issues (p.29-46)

by

Evangelia Fragouli, Aarhus University & University of Dundee

Pavlos Thedoulou, University of Dundee

Keywords : Risk, Perception, Culture

JEL classification : Q3, Q4

Abstract

Risk perception, is the people’s judgments and assessment of dangerous situations that might impose threats to their well-being. However, the way in which people and societies manage the risks, has the special feature of the selectiveness, as to what risks peoples and societies, actually gives rise to concern.. This paper will examine the factors which lead to the different ways people perceive the nature and the context of the risk from a psychological, national and personal cultural perspective. From the psychological point of view, risk perception process is based on the people’s danger experience and how the information about the source of risk is communicated in people’s psychological mechanism. This psychological mechanism is the one which is responsible for posing uncertainty to people. Moreover, the psychological and cultural studies on how people and societies really assess risks have been shown that people, anywhere in the world regardless of their cultural background, use particular criteria to form their own opinion about risks. Despite this, the effectiveness of these criteria in the public opinion-forming differs considerably, according to people’s social group and their personal characteristics and dimensions.