![]() And Slovic's research has found certain factors are likely to increase fear (and perceptions of peril): when a threat is new and unfamiliar, when people feel little sense of control over the threat, and when they experience a sense of dread - such as by being exposed to alarming stories about illness and death. While anger can lower one's perception of risk, fear ratchets it up ( Current Directions in Psychological Science, Vol. ![]() “We judge risk by our feelings more than by looking at data and statistics and evidence.” A lack of control fuels stressĪs psychological research has shown for decades, our sense of risk is driven by our emotions, says Slovic. They very strongly endorsed the statement ‘Officials should provide Americans with honest, accurate information about the situation (even if that information worries people),'” Fischhoff says. “We found people can develop well informed risk perceptions-if they get good information from trustworthy sources. ![]() People also have clear preferences about how they like to receive information ( Risk Analysis, Vol. public's understanding of Ebola following the 2014 outbreak in West Africa. Most people are pretty good at assessing risk when information is communicated accurately and effectively, as psychologist Baruch Fischhoff, PhD, at Carnegie Mellon University, and colleagues found in a survey of the U.S. “Our message is to stay informed by authoritative sources, but to be mindful of the amount of time you're immersed in the news.” 3. But stress and anxiety can be exacerbated by too much media,” Silver says. ![]() “When risk information is communicated in a consistent and authoritative way, people learn and benefit from it. That suggests people who have experienced more distress during past disasters might be at increased risk of negative psychological outcomes during the current pandemic. al., Clinical Psychological Science, Vol. They also found people who had acute stress responses to the Boston Marathon bombings the year before were more worried about Ebola, despite the very low risk of transmission in the United States. Silver and colleagues found Ebola-related worry was associated with both a history of mental health diagnoses and with increased exposure to media reports about the virus. 1, 2014).ĭuring the 2014 Ebola crisis in Africa, there was a flurry of media coverage in the U.S. People with the highest exposure to media coverage of the bombings had even more acute stress than people who were directly exposed to the bombings ( PNAS, Vol. After the Boston Marathon bombings in 2013, for instance, she and her colleagues found a strong association between exposure to media coverage of the attack and symptoms of acute stress. In a forthcoming paper in Health Psychology, Silver and colleagues review research from past public health crises and describe how media attention can amplify distress. Too much media of any kind can undermine mental healthĪmount of exposure matters too. And that volume of news can be a problem. In the current pandemic, however, the constant barrage of information on traditional media is distinct from the situation with Zika, says University of Oregon psychologist Paul Slovic, PhD. The authors suggest that public health agencies might rely on social media to quickly raise awareness about new threats, but should work with traditional media to avoid confusion when sharing later developments and updates ( Social Science & Medicine, Vol. When the volume of information about Zika increased on traditional media, on the other hand, people were more likely to engage in protective behaviors. They found that as people read more about the virus on social media, their perception of risk increased. Social media may escalate anxiety more than traditional mediaįollowing the emergence of Zika virus in 2016, Man-pui Sally Chan, PhD, assistant professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and colleagues investigated risk perception of the disease in the United States. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |