Risk Perception

• by improving communication between them and the public;
• by directing educational effort and;
• by predicting public responses to new technologies, events and new risk management strategies.

The following fields have important influence on risk perception:

• Geography -- the recent broadening of focus on technologial hazards.
• Sociology & Anthropology
-- study shows that risk perception is influenced by friends, family, co-workers etc..
• Psychology -- Psychometric Paradigm uses psychophysical scaling and multivariate analysis techniques to produces quantitative representations or `cognitive maps' of risk attitudes and perceptions, demostrated that every hazard has a unique pattern of qualities that appear to be related to its preceived risk.

According to the public, the most important high risk factor is dread risk However, experts see riskiness similar to expected annual mortality. Although the public lacks information of certain hazard when evaluating risks, their legitimate concerns are often omitted in risk management. In order to eliminate the difference, expert and public should respect insights of each other through risk communication.

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