Outrage and Technical Detail: The Impact of Agency Behavior on Community Risk Perception: Research Project Summary

Abstract

When citizens see officials being sensitive to their concerns about environmental problems, do citizen concerns about risk decrease? What happens when government staff do not respect public concerns? New Jersey homeowners were asked to read news stories showing how a NJDEPE spokesperson responded to citizen concerns about environmental problems. For the stories where the official ignored public concerns, readers saw the environmental health risks as higher and government behavior as less appropriate. News stories with more detailed technical information about health effects and exposure pathways of environmental hazards did not affect risk perceptions. These research results suggest that agency relations with the public and the effectiveness of management decisions will improve when officials directly address public concerns, although respect for citizen concerns alone cannot eliminate conflict with the public over risks.