Risk Perception: Experts and the Public

Perceived risk is a crucial factor in the social dilemmas surrounding the risks and hazards of the environment. This paper reviews behavioral research on perceived risk of the public and experts, giving special attention to nuclear waste risk. Experts and the public frequently have very different views of risk, and three cases are distinguished and explanations for the differences between experts and the public are outlined. Theories and models of perceived risk are then discussed. Most theories have been found to have only low or modest explanatory power with regard to level of perceived risk, and even less when it comes to risk acceptability. It is pointed out that risk perception is probably less cognitive than has previously been believed, and that such factors as attitudes and moral values play a crucial role.