METHODOLOGICAL APPROACHES TO ASSESSING RISK PERCEPTIONS ASSOCIATED WITH FOOD-RELATED HAZARDS

The psychometric approach developed by Slovic and his co-workers has b een effectively used to assess risk perceptions associated with differ ent food-related hazards. However, further examination (using question naire data and partial correlation techniques) has indicated that tech nological hazards are highly differentiated from lifestyle hazards, in terms of both hazard control and knowledge about the hazard. Optimist ic bias was also seen to vary between hazards. Further research has fo cused on a particular hazard, genetic engineering. Risk perceptions as sociated with genetic engineering are underpinned by ethical concern a nd questions relating to perceived need for the technology, as well as perceptions of risk or harm. However, increasing the specificity of h azard stimuli was found to alter the factor structure of underlying ri sk perceptions. The utility of preference mapping procedures in determ ining individual differences in trust in risk regulators is also discu ssed.