Emotions A Bad Barometer In Risk Assessment
Global warming may not be a hot button topic these days because other threats, like unemployment, terrorist attacks or death panels, are getting the media attention, says University of Colorado at Boulder psychology Professor Leaf Van Boven. That makes sense. Media needs to sell media and some hype doesn't hurt. People tend to view their recent emotions, such as their perceptions of threats or risks, as more intense and important than their previous emotions. In one part of the study focusing on terrorist threats and using materials adapted from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Van Boven and his research colleagues presented two scenarios to people in a college laboratory depicting warnings about traveling abroad to two countries. read more