Risk perceptions have, to a great extent, been studied exclusively as individual cognitive mechanisms in which individuals collect, process, and form perceptions as atomized units unconnected to a social system. These individual-level theories do not, however, help explain how perception of risk may vary between communities or within a single community. One alternative approach is based on a network theory of contagion. This approach, emerging largely from organizational and community social network studies, suggests that it is the relational aspects of individuals and the resulting networks and self-organizing systems that influence individual perceptions and build "groups or communities of like-minded" individuals. These social units, it is argued, behave as attitude, knowledge, or behavioral structures. The study reported in this article tests one aspect of this theoretical perspective. The central hypothesis proposes the existence of risk perception networks--relational groupings of individuals who share, and perhaps create, similar risk perceptions. To test this idea, data were collected from individuals involved in a community environmental conflict over a hazardous waste site cleanup. The statistical analysis used a matrix of relational social linkages to compare with a matrix of individual risk perceptions The analysis confirmed the hypothesis suggesting that social linkages in communities may play an important role in focusing risk perceptions.

This study examines the influence of demographic variables and dimensions of motivational factors of two types of consumer Web use: percentage of weekly Web surfing time spent searching for product and service‐related information and online shopping and transactions. It combines data from two sources: a self‐administered survey of 59 undergraduates in an introductory communication course at Cornell University; and a mail/Web survey of 59 New York State residents who had reported subscribing to an online service in a previous mail survey. We found distinctively different patterns of relationships among demographics and motivational factors for the two types of dependent variables. Most importantly, transactional privacy concerns were found to be negatively related to percentage of time spent on product searches and online shopping, while economic motivations had a positive influence. In addition, online shopping was found to be predicted by information motivations, interactive control motivations, and socialization motivations. Implications for Web‐based commerce and advertising are discussed.

Outreach programs are interventions that have the potential to influence the unique context of human-wildlife conflict as well as the political, economic, and social systems within which human-wildlife conflict occurs. However, evaluation of these programs is limited. The purpose of this research was to determine a human-wildlife conflict outreach intervention's effect on environmentally responsible behavior using the case of human-black bear conflict in New York, The New York NeighBEARhood Watch Program, and the Elaboration Likelihood Model. We found no short-term evidence of environmentally responsible behavior change after the program was implemented. We discuss inhibitors of desired program impact and the utility of our evaluation framework to measure program effect. Given the staying power of outreach interventions and their unknown effects on mitigating human-wildlife conflict, it is imperative that evaluation of programs be a required part of their implementation. Results presented herein can advance discussion about the role of outreach interventions by highlighting assumptions, realistic expectations, and outcome measures.

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Research suggests that hurricane-related risk perception is a critical predictor of behavioral response, such as evacuation. Less is known, however, about the precursors of these subjective risk judgments, especially when time has elapsed from a focal event. Drawing broadly from the risk communication, social psychology, and natural hazards literature, and specifically from concepts adapted from the risk information seeking and processing model and the protective action decision model, we examine how individuals' distant recollections, including attribution of responsibility for the effects of a storm, attitude toward relevant information, and past hurricane experience, relate to risk judgment for a future, similar event. The present study reports on a survey involving U.S. residents in Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York (n = 619) impacted by Hurricane Sandy. While some results confirm past findings, such as that hurricane experience increases risk judgment, others suggest additional complexity, such as how various types of experience (e.g., having evacuated vs. having experienced losses) may heighten or attenuate individual-level judgments of responsibility. We suggest avenues for future research, as well as implications for federal agencies involved in severe weather/natural hazard forecasting and communication with public audiences.

Although evidence suggests that photographs can enhance persuasive messaging by offering “proof,” less research considers their utility relative to other visual forms that ostensibly convey more information but more abstractly. Drawing on communication and information processing theory, this study examines the influence of visual features and personal experience variables in a domain with urgent need to better understand their role: hurricane messaging. In a between subjects experiment, residents of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut (N = 1052) were exposed to a hypothetical hurricane forecast accompanied by a photograph of storm surge inundating a house (indexical image), a map of projected storm surge (iconic image), or no image (control), depending on condition. Results revealed that participants in the indexical condition perceived the greatest risk overall and were more likely to mention evacuation as a behavioral intention than did those in the iconic and control conditions, controlling for individual differences (gender, state of residence, etc.). Moreover, risk perception was greatest among residents in the indexical condition reporting fewer personal impacts of hurricanes, suggesting a moderating effect of hurricane experience on risk judgment but not on behavioral intention. Consistent with a dual-process model perspective, when exposed to an image of an identifiable “victim,” participants with less direct experience may have employed an affect heuristic, resulting in heightened risk perceptions. Practically speaking, using evocative photographs as proof may be preferable to a map or text-only approach when warning public audiences of a given hazard, but ethical issues and empirical questions remain.

This article investigates the possible negative effects of bovine somatotropin (bST) and antibiotic use in cows on fluid-milk consumption in New York State. Based on data from a consumer survey, the potential change in milk consumption due to bST and antibiotic use is estimated. In addition, the current perceptions of consumers about bST and antibiotics are measured, and the significant socioeconomic, demographic, and attitudinal characteristics of consumers that are related to their milk-consumption response to bST are identified.