Psychology Approach
The psychology approach began with research in trying to understand how people process information. These early works maintain that people use cognitive heuristics in sorting and simplifying information which lead to biases in comprehension. Later work built on this foundation and became the psychometric paradigm. This approach identifies numerous factors responsible for influencing individual perceptions of risk, including dread, newness, stigma, and other factors.
Another belief arising from earlier research is the valence theory approach where it is said that emotions are grouped as either positive, such as happy and hopeful, or negative, such as fear and anger. According to the valence theory, optimistic risk perceptions are attributed positive emotions while negative emotions influence a more pessimistic view of risk.
Read more about this topic: Risk Perception
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