Theories of Risk Perception: Who Fears What and Why?

In social science rival theories seeking to answer the same questions rarely confront one another. Indeed, a variety of perspectives has been employed in research on public perception of risk, but alternative formulations remain largely untested. Missing most of all is a focused comparison of rival hypotheses. One could hardly find many subjects that are better known or considered more important to more people nowadays than the controversies over harm to the natural environment and the human body attributed to modern technology, whether this be from chem ical carcinogens or nuclear power or noxious products introduced by industry into the land, sea, or air, or into water or food supplies. Thus we ask: Why are…