The Role of Personal Risk Experience—An Investigation of Health and Terrorism Risk Perception in Germany and Israel

Josianne Kollmann, Yael Benyamini, Nadine C. Lages, Britta Renner*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

9 Scopus citations

Abstract

The present study examined the relationship between risk experience and risk perceptions in relation to the target (risk to the self vs. others) and for two different types of risk: acute risks (i.e., terrorist attacks) and cumulative health risks (i.e., alcohol consumption, tobacco consumption, and unhealthy eating) in two countries (Israel and Germany). An online survey (N = 571) was conducted to assess participants’ previous personal experience with acute and cumulative risks and their personal and general risk perceptions. The results showed that personal experience with terrorism was related to increased personal and general risk perceptions, while personal experience with cumulative health risks was related to increased personal but not general risk perceptions. It is argued that an increase in risk perception with more risk experience can be explained by the amount of available information about people's personal as well as other people's risk status. The findings emphasize that the experience–risk perception relationship depends on the target of the risk and the type of risk experience.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)818-829
Number of pages12
JournalRisk Analysis
Volume42
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 2022

Funding

FundersFunder number
Deutsche ForschungsgemeinschaftFOR 2374
Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung01EL1420A

    Keywords

    • Cumulative risk
    • personal experience
    • risk perception

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