Determinants of priority for risk reduction: The role of worry

One hundred twenty-two members (experts) of the Society for Risk Analysis c ompleted a mailed questionnaire and 150 nonexperts completed a similar ques tionnaire on the World Wide Web. Questions asked included those about prior ities on personal and government action for risk reduction, badness of the risk, number of people affected, worry, and probabilities for self and othe rs. Individual differences in mean desire for action were largely explained in terms of worry. Worry, in turn, was largely affected by probability jud gments, which were lower for experts than for nonexperts. Differences acros s risks in the desire for action, within each subject, were also determined largely by worry and probability. Belief in expert knowledge about the ris k increased worry and the priority for risk reduction. A second study invol ving 91 nonexperts (42 interviewed and 49 on the Web) replicated the main f indings for nonexperts from the first study. Interviews also probed the det erminants of worry, attitudes toward government versus personal control, an d protective behaviors.