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Availability, Affect, and Decisions to Seek Information about Cancer Risks

Author

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  • Michelle McDowell

    (Harding Center for Risk Literacy, Faculty for Health Sciences Brandenburg, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany
    Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany)

  • Thorsten Pachur

    (Center for Adaptive Rationality, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany)

Abstract

How do people decide which risks they want to get informed about? The present study examines the role of the availability and affect heuristics on these decisions. Participants ( N = 100, aged 19–72 years) selected for which of 23 cancers they would like to receive an information brochure, reported the number of occurrences of each type of cancer in their social circle (availability), and rated their dread reaction to each type of cancer (affect); they also made relative judgments about which of 2 cancers was more common in Germany (judged risk). Participants tended to choose information brochures for those cancers for which they indicated a higher availability within their social networks as well as for cancers they dreaded. Mediation analyses suggested that the influence of availability and affect on information choice was only partly mediated by judged risk. The results demonstrate the operation of 2 key judgment heuristics (availability and affect), previously studied in risk perception, also in decisions about information choice. We discuss how our findings can be used to identify which risks are likely to fall from people’s radar.

Suggested Citation

  • Michelle McDowell & Thorsten Pachur, 2020. "Availability, Affect, and Decisions to Seek Information about Cancer Risks," Medical Decision Making, , vol. 40(8), pages 941-945, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:medema:v:40:y:2020:i:8:p:941-945
    DOI: 10.1177/0272989X20951775
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Milou Kievik & Ellen F.J. ter Huurne & Jan M. Gutteling, 2012. "The action suited to the word? Use of the framework of risk information seeking to understand risk-related behaviors," Journal of Risk Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(2), pages 131-147, February.
    2. Shelly Hovick & Vicki S. Freimuth & Ashani Johnson‐Turbes & Doryn D. Chervin, 2011. "Multiple Health Risk Perception and Information Processing Among African Americans and Whites Living in Poverty," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(11), pages 1789-1799, November.
    3. Ellen Ter Huurne & Jan Gutteling, 2008. "Information needs and risk perception as predictors of risk information seeking," Journal of Risk Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(7), pages 847-862, October.
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    Keywords

    information seeking; risk perception;

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