Risk Perception and Behaviors: Anticipating and Responding to Crises

• Published in: Risk analysis Vol. 32; no. 4; pp. 579 - 582
• Main Authors: Burns, William J., Slovic, Paul
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Malden, USA Blackwell Publishing Inc 01.04.2012; Blackwell Publishing Ltd
• Subjects: California; Colleges and universities; Communication systems; Cost; Crisis Intervention; Crisis management; Disasters; Earthquakes; Haiti; Humans; Law; Oregon; Perception; Psychology; Public officials; Risk; Risk Management; Risk-Taking; Scientists; Southeast Asia; Terrorism; Tsunamis; Western states
• ISSN: 0272-4332; 1539-6924
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1539-6924.2012.01791.x

The past decade has witnessed disasters on a scale of human suffering and economic costs that have served to alert scientists and public officials alike of the challenges that lay ahead in the management of risk. Natural disasters such as Katrina (2005), the earthquake in Haiti (2010), and the tsunami in Southeast Asia (2004) have put cities, nations, and even entire regions of the world in harm's way, producing a toll of $380 billion in losses in 2011. Responding to this need, in August 2009 Decision Research, the Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events (CREATEUniversity of Southern California), and Pacific Northwest National Labs (PNNL) jointly organized a workshop at the University of Oregon to explore possible avenues of research leading to insights in risk perception, risk and crisis communication, and risk management. We purposely invited an eclectic group of risk researchers whose disciplines included psychology, sociology, communications, system dynamics, statistical modeling, policy analysis, and the law. Adapted from the source document.