How to communicate risk when it feels like no one is listening

Abstract

As our understanding of natural hazards and climate risk improves, how do we enable individual decision makers to be best informed? Our paper will focus on the communication of risk information, and how the psychology of individuals controls the success. Through looking at existing research to understand the differing ways we perceive and communicate risk, our paper highlights the requirement to ensure more effective public risk information and enable effective decision making within our communities. We focus on two key aspects that inform an individual’s response to risk, the cognitive and emotional dimensions, which refer to how much people know and understand about risk, and how someone feels about risk. Our paper will capture the psychological responses when informed about risk and look to establish principles for risk communication for differing individuals and communities. Concepts such as ‘probability neglect’ further impact risk information and decision making of the public, demonstrating the need for our industry to better communicate risk to enable effective decision making.