The Inverse Relation between Risks and Benefits: The Role of Affect and Expertise

Sokołowska, Joanna; Sleboda, Patrycja

doi:10.2139/ssrn.2409306

Cited by 8 publications

(10 citation statements)

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“…Using one's feelings (affect or emotions) as a source of information for making judgments (Schwarz, ) is largely based on the rapid, associative, automatic experiential system of thinking rather than on the slow, logical, rational analytical system (Epstein, , ; Slovic et al., , ). This was empirically supported by studies showing that people seem to rely especially on their feelings if they do not know much about a topic (Ottati & Isbell, ; Sedikides, ; Sokolowska & Sleboda, ). Knowledge is related to the analytical system.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 75%

When Evolution Works Against the Future: Disgust's Contributions to the Acceptance of New Food Technologies

2019

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New food technologies have a high potential to transform the current resource‐consuming food system to a more efficient and sustainable one, but public acceptance of new food technologies is rather low. Such an avoidance might be maintained by a deeply preserved risk avoidance system called disgust. In an online survey, participants (N = 313) received information about a variety of new food technology applications (i.e., genetically modified meat/fish, edible nanotechnology coating film, nanotechnology food box, artificial meat/milk, and a synthetic food additive). Every new food technology application was rated according to the respondent's willingness to eat (WTE) it (i.e., acceptance), risk, benefit, and disgust perceptions. Furthermore, food disgust sensitivity was measured using the Food Disgust Scale. Overall, the WTE both gene‐technology applications and meat coated with an edible nanotechnology film were low and disgust responses toward all three applications were high. In full mediation models, food disgust sensitivity predicted the disgust response toward each new food technology application, which in turn influenced WTE them. Effects of disgust responses on the WTE a synthetic food additive were highest for and lowest for the edible nanotechnology coating film compared to the other technologies. Results indicate that direct disgust responses influence acceptance and risk and benefit perceptions of new food technologies. Beyond the discussion of this study, implications for future research and strategies to increase acceptance of new food technologies are discussed.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 75%

When Evolution Works Against the Future: Disgust's Contributions to the Acceptance of New Food Technologies

2019

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“…The affect heuristic has also been used to explain the acceptance of food irradiation 3 or of nanotechnology in foods and food packaging 30 . In contrast with laypeople's risk judgments, those of experts are not influenced by the affect associated with a hazard 31 . Due to their knowledge, experts can rely more on the analytical system for the evaluation of a food technology, but due to laypeople's lack of technical knowledge, they need to rely on their experiential system, which is more driven by affect, concrete images, metaphors or narratives 17 , when assessing risks and benefits of novel food technologies.…”

Section: Affect Heuristicmentioning

confidence: 85%

Consumer acceptance of novel food technologies

Siegrist¹,

Hartmann²

2020

Nat Food

420

212

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Novel food technologies are important for food security, safety and sustainability. Consumers, however, are often hesitant to accept them. In this narrative Review, we organize the research describing how heuristics and individual differences among consumers influence the acceptance of agri-food technologies. Associations evoked by a food technology, its perceived naturalness and trust in the industry using it influence consumer acceptance. Food neophobia, disgust sensitivity and cultural values are crucial personality factors for explaining individual differences. Using gene technology, nanotechnology, cultured meat and food irradiation as cases, we explore factors that may explain consumers' acceptance or lack of acceptance. Climate change, food supply shocks caused by crises such as pandemics and population growth are imminent threats to the food system. Therefore, disruptive food technologies will be needed to progress towards a more resilient food system. Taking into account the factors influencing consumers' perceptions of novel food technologies during the early stage of development and introduction will hopefully result in a higher acceptance of such technologies.

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“…While participants were not put in a negative mood, negative affect around driving may have still led to a more careful analysis of risks and benefits of self‐driving cars. And, when participants make judgments on a more concrete level, previous research has found that the inverse relationship of risk and benefit perceptions is reduced or eliminated (Sokolowska & Sleboda, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…If people's emotional responses are more positive, they tend to judge risks to be lower and benefits to be higher; the more negative people's affective reactions are, the more likely they are to judge risks to be higher and benefits to be lower (Alhakami & Slovic, ; Slovic et al., ). People may be particularly more likely to rely on their affective reactions as a common source to generate both their risk and benefit evaluations when they lack expertise within a given domain (Finucane, Alhakami, Slovic, & Johnson, ; Sokolowska & Sleboda, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Influence of Feelings While Driving Regular Cars on the Perception and Acceptance of Self‐Driving Cars

et al. 2019

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Self‐driving vehicles will affect the future of transportation, but factors that underlie perception and acceptance of self‐driving cars are yet unclear. Research on feelings as information and the affect heuristic has suggested that feelings are an important source of information, especially in situations of complexity and uncertainty. In this study (N = 1,484), we investigated how feelings related to traditional driving affect risk perception, benefit perception, and trust related to self‐driving cars as well as people's acceptance of the technology. Due to limited experiences with and knowledge of self‐driving cars, we expected that feelings related to a similar experience, namely, driving regular cars, would influence judgments of self‐driving cars. Our results support this assumption. While positive feelings of enjoyment predicted higher benefit perception and trust, negative affect predicted higher risk and higher benefit perception of self‐driving cars. Feelings of control were inversely related to risk and benefit perception, which is in line with research on the affect heuristic. Furthermore, negative affect was an important source of information for judgments of use and acceptance. Interest in using a self‐driving car was also predicted by lower risk perception, higher benefit perception, and higher levels of trust in the technology. Although people's individual experiences with advanced vehicle technologies and knowledge were associated with perceptions and acceptance, many simply have never been exposed to the technology and know little about it. In the absence of this experience or knowledge, all that is left is the knowledge, experience, and feelings they have related to regular driving.

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The Inverse Relation between Risks and Benefits: The Role of Affect and Expertise

Cited by 8 publications

References 0 publications

When Evolution Works Against the Future: Disgust's Contributions to the Acceptance of New Food Technologies

When Evolution Works Against the Future: Disgust's Contributions to the Acceptance of New Food Technologies

Consumer acceptance of novel food technologies

The Influence of Feelings While Driving Regular Cars on the Perception and Acceptance of Self‐Driving Cars

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