In this comprehensive, state-of-the-art overview of risk communication, the fields leading experts summarize theory, current research, and practice in a range of disciplines and describe effective communication approaches for risk situations in diverse contexts, such as health, environment, science, technology, and crisis.

Table of Contents

• Acknowledgments
• Introduction: Explicating Communication in Risk Communication - Hyunyi Cho, Torsten Reimer, and Katherine A. McComas
• PART I: FOUNDATIONS OF RISK COMMUNICATION
• Section 1: Risk Perceptions of Individuals
• 1. Risk Perception - Nicolai Bodemer and Wolfgang Gaissmaier
• 2. The Challenge of the Description–Experience Gap to the Communication of Risks - Ralph Hertwig and Renato Frey
• 3. The Feeling of Risk: Implications for Risk Perception and Communication - Stephan Dickert, Daniel Västfjäll, Robert Mauro, and Paul Slovic
• Section 2: Risk as Social Construction
• 4. Social Construction of Risk - Adam Burgess
• 5. The Role of News Media in the Social Amplification of Risk - Andrew R. Binder, Michael A. Cacciatore, Dietram A. Scheufele, and Dominique Brossard
• 6. Rhetoric of Risk - Robin E. Jensen
• PART II: COMPONENTS OF RISK COMMUNICATION
• Section 3: Models of Risk Communication
• 7. Risk Information Seeking and Processing Model - Sharon Dunwoody and Robert J. Griffin
• 8. The Societal Risk Reduction Motivation Model - Hyunyi Cho and Kai Kuang
• Section 4: Audiences of Risk Communication
• 9. The Role of Numeracy in Risk Communication - Priscila G. Brust-Renck, Valerie F. Reyna, Jonathan C. Corbin, Caisa E. Royer, and Rebecca B. Weldon
• 10. Edgework and Risk Communication - Stephen Lyng, Thomas Workman, and G. H. Morris
• Section 5: Risk Communication Messages
• 11. Numeric Communication of Risk - Torsten Reimer, Christina Jones, and Christine Skubisz
• 12. Narrative Communication of Risk: Toward Balancing Accuracy and Acceptance - Hyunyi Cho and L. Brooke Friley
• 13. Visual Messaging and Risk Communication - Andy J. King
• Section 6: Risk Communication and the Media
• 14. Media Portrayal of Risk: The Social Production of News - Susanna Priest
• 15. Framing, the Media, and Risk Communication in Policy Debates - Matthew C. Nisbet
• 16. Social Media and Risk Communication - Stephen A. Rains, Steven R. Brunner, and Kyle Oman
• PART III: CONTEXTS OF RISK COMMUNICATION
• Section 7: Interpersonal Contexts of Risk Communication
• 17. Risk Communication in Provider–Patient Interactions - Carma L. Bylund, Erin Maloney, and Emily B. Peterson
• 18. Informed Consent - Z. Janet Yang
• Section 8: Organizational Contexts of Risk Communication
• 19. Risk Communication in Groups - Tillman Russell and Torsten Reimer
• 20. Crisis Communication - Timothy L. Sellnow
• Section 9: Risk Communication in the Public Sphere
• 21. Social Movements and Risk Communication - Hilary Schaffer Boudet and Shannon Elizabeth Bell
• 22. Public Engagement in Risk-Related Decision Making - John C. Besley
• Glossary
• Subject Index
• About the Editors
• About the Contributors