Cultural models of Pfiesteria: Toward cultivating more appropriate risk perceptions

Based on semistructured interviews (N = 7), informal interviewing (N = 63), and a survey (N = 790), this article describes the cultural models used by mid-Atlantic residents to understand Pfiesteria piscicida. A cultural mode l is a simplified way of understanding a complex system, shared by members of a culture. Eighty-eight percent of respondents understood Pfiesteria usi ng one of four previously existing cultural models: a disease in fish, a pa rasite in fish, a water pollutant, and a toxin or poison. These models are not used by marine biologists, who are more likely to refer to Pfiesteria t axonomically or, in its fish killing form, to call it a predator. Our surve y shows that the cultural model a respondent holds is correlated significan tly with his or her believed pathway of human harm (e.g., eating fish versu s swimming) and is correlated significantly but weakly with his or her beha vioral responses. We conclude that existing cultural models, as the public has applied them to Pfiesteria, have led people to avoid a range of coastal activities and seafoods, in virtually all cases unnecessarily. Cultural mo dels appear to explain public reaction better than previously hypothesized factors such as inaccurate media coverage. These findings suggest an approa ch to developing a pedagogical and communications strategy which could prov ide the public with a cultural model better matched to Pfiesteria.