UNDERSTANDING DIFFERENCES BETWEEN COGNITIVE AND AFFECTIVE RISK PERCEPTIONS: COMPARING DON'T KNOW RESPONSES

Purpose:

   Evidence is accumulating that risk feelings are more strongly related to health decision making than risk cognitions, but little research has examined possible reasons for these effects. One possibility is that, because risk feelings reflect a more accessible way of thinking about probabilities compared to cognitive probability judgments, people may be less uncertain about their risk when thinking in affective terms. The present study investigates this in the context of don’t know (DK) responding to risk perception survey questions. We expected the frequency of DK responding to be higher for cognitive risk perceptions compared to affective risk perceptions.  

Method:

   Through secondary analysis of data collected for a risk communication experiment (N=835), the present study investigated the frequency of DK responding to cognitive and affective perceived risk measures related to colon cancer and other physical activity-related diseases (i.e., diabetes, stroke, heart disease).  Absolute risk perceptions and comparative risk perceptions were assessed for each of the measures, resulting in a total of eight risk perception items.  All items included an explicit DK response option. The chi-squared, one variable test was used to test the difference in proportions. 

Result:

   DK responding was 24.3% vs. 15.0% for cognitive and affective absolute risk towards colon cancer respectively.  DK responding was 19.0% vs. 17.0% for cognitive and affective comparative risk towards colon cancer respectively. For other diseases, DK responding was 13.2% vs. 10.5% for cognitive and affective absolute risk respectively and 12.6% vs. 11.3% for cognitive and affective comparative risk respectively. The differences in proportions were significant for the absolute risk questions, (i.e., p<0.001 and p=0.02 for colon cancer and other diseases respectively) and not significant for the comparative risk questions (i.e., p=0.13 and p=0.25 for colon cancer and other diseases respectively). 

Conclusion:

   Evidence that affective risk beliefs might be more accessible resulting in less DK responding compared to cognitive risk beliefs was only found for how people feel about their absolute risk of disease and not for their comparative risk of disease.  Additional research is needed to better understand these contextual differences to advance theory and the development of more effective communication practices that better serve the informational needs of the general public.