The Affective Bases of Risk Perception: Negative Feelings and Stress Mediate the Relationship between Mental Imagery and Risk Perception

Abstract

Recent research has documented that affect plays a crucial role in risk perception. When no information about numerical risk estimates is available (e.g., probability of loss or magnitude of consequences), people may rely on positive and negative affect toward perceived risk. However, determinants of affective reactions to risks are poorly understood. In a series of three experiments, we addressed the question of whether and to what degree mental imagery eliciting negative affect and stress influences risk perception. In each experiment, participants were instructed to visualize consequences of risk taking and to rate riskiness. In Experiment 1, participants who imagined negative risk consequences reported more negative affect and perceived risk as higher compared to the control condition. In Experiment 2, we found that this effect was driven by affect elicited by mental imagery rather than its vividness and intensity. In this study, imagining positive risk consequences led to lower perceived risk than visualizing negative risk consequences. Finally, we tested the hypothesis that negative affect related to higher perceived risk was caused by negative feelings of stress. In Experiment 3, we introduced risk-irrelevant stress to show that participants in the stress condition rated perceived risk as higher in comparison to the control condition. This experiment showed that higher ratings of perceived risk were influenced by psychological stress. Taken together, our results demonstrate that affect-laden mental imagery dramatically changes risk perception through negative affect (i.e., psychological stress).

Differences between health workers and general population in risk perception, behaviors, and psychological distress related to COVID-19 spread in Italy.

“…In fact, stress increased such perceived risk, while death anxiety directly increased the concern about fatal or severe consequences of COVID-19 and that the virus could have an impact on the situation globally. While it was already reported in literature the effect of both stress (Sobkow, Traczyk, & Zaleskiewicz, 2016;Traczyk, Sobkow, & Zaleskiewicz, 2015) and death anxiety (Langford, 2002) on risk perception and risk taking, it should be noted that higher levels of stress could also be due to actual exposure to contagion risk in the case of COVID-19, as showed by our results about comparisons on levels of perceived stress between healthcare workers from North, Center, and South Italy.…”

Framing experts' (dis)agreements about uncertain environmental events

“…One can hypothesize in light of the current findings that verbal probabilities with different directionality (e.g., “likely” vs. “not certain”) will be perceived as disagreeing more than verbal probabilities with the same directionality (e.g., “likely” vs. “highly likely”; Teigen & Brun, ). In other cases, experts may not refer to probabilities at all but could communicate risks in ways that induce more or less vivid affect‐laden imagery (Sobkow, Traczyk, & Zaleskiewicz, ; Traczyk, Sobkow, & Zaleskiewicz, ). Experts who induce different emotions in the listener may be perceived as disagreeing more than two experts who induce the same emotion but with different intensity.…”

“…"highly likely"; Teigen & Brun, 1999). In other cases, experts may not refer to probabilities at all but could communicate risks in ways that induce more or less vivid affect-laden imagery (Sobkow, Traczyk, & Zaleskiewicz, 2016;Traczyk, Sobkow, & Zaleskiewicz, 2015). Experts who induce different emotions in the listener may be perceived as disagreeing more than two experts who induce the same emotion but with different intensity.…”

Effect of Online Product Presentation on the Purchase Intention of Wearable Devices: The Role of Mental Imagery and Individualism–Collectivism

“…This is a typical cognitive response affected by mental imagery. A recent study by Sobkow et al (2016) indicated that visual mental imagery is associated with the degree of perceived risk. They argued that negative mental imagery leads to negative emotions and pressures, which, in turn, increase the perceived risk and ultimately reduce individuals' willingness to engage in risk-taking behavior (Sobkow et al, 2016).…”

“…A recent study by Sobkow et al (2016) indicated that visual mental imagery is associated with the degree of perceived risk. They argued that negative mental imagery leads to negative emotions and pressures, which, in turn, increase the perceived risk and ultimately reduce individuals' willingness to engage in risk-taking behavior (Sobkow et al, 2016). In line with these findings, this research proposes that consumers' mental imagery will be negatively associated with perceived social risk in the context of online shopping for smartwatches.…”