This study aims to evaluate directly how a graphical risk ladder is perceived and how this perception is related to people's subjective numeracy. Gaze durations and frequencies were used to examine visual attention. Participants (<italic>N</italic> = 47) appeared to focus on the target risk information, whereas...

Some lay people confronted with a new base station project fear serious health consequences from the high-frequency radiation, while experts consider exposure under the current international standards as unproblematic. These conflictive estimations may be attributed to the different mental...

When it comes to the new siting of a mobile communication base station in one's neighbourhood, some people react with rejection because they fear health consequences from the emitted high-frequency radiation. Most people would prefer to site base stations outside residential areas, but from a...

The aim of the present study was to examine factors that may influence the acceptance of nanotechnology products in the food domain. Data come from a representative mail survey conducted in the German-speaking part of Switzerland (<italic>n</italic> = 514). Participants received information about six realistic...

Perceptions of and attitudes toward genetically engineered food and other food hazards were examined through data from telephone interviews conducted in Switzerland. A random quota sample was used ( N v = v 1001). General attitudes toward technology and political beliefs significantly influenced...

Research suggests that children and adults are able to solve Bayesian problems when natural frequencies are used, but most studies have involved only students or academics. The present research focuses on random samples from the general population. Experiments 1 and 2 showed that the...

To fight highly infectious animal diseases, there are almost exclusively two possible strategies that can be done: vaccination and culling. For effective risk communication and management strategies during a crisis, the risk perception and beliefs of different stakeholders are essential. Risk...

Many people fear that exposure to mobile phone base stations leads to severe health effects. In addition to those fears, many citizens are unsatisfied or even angry about prevailing base station site-selection procedures. In the present study, it was investigated how these emotions, i.e. fear...

The influence of trust and confidence as personality traits on the perception of various hazards was examined. The distinction between trust and confidence is a key element of certain theories of co-operation, but this dual-mode approach has had little impact on empirical studies. General trust...