The affect heuristic in judgments of risks and benefits

This paper re-examines the commonly observed inverse relationship between p erceived risk and perceived benefit. We propose that this relationship occu rs because people rely on affect when judging the risk and benefit of speci fic hazards. Evidence supporting this proposal is obtained in two experimen tal studies. Study 1 investigated the inverse relationship between risk and benefit judgments under a time-pressure condition designed to limit the us e of analytic thought and enhance the reliance on affect. As expected, the inverse relationship was strengthened when time pressure was introduced. St udy 2 tested and confirmed the hypothesis that providing information design ed to alter the favorability of one's overall affective evaluation of an it em (say nuclear power) would systematically change the risk and benefit jud gments for that item. Both studies suggest that people seem prone to using an 'affect heuristic' which improves judgmental efficiency by deriving both risk and benefit evaluations from a common source - affective reactions to the stimulus item. Copyright (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.