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Conflict or Caveats? Effects of Media Portrayals of Scientific Uncertainty on Audience Perceptions of New Technologies
Author(s) -
Binder Andrew R.,
Hillback Elliott D.,
Brossard Dominique
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
risk analysis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.972
H-Index - 130
eISSN - 1539-6924
pISSN - 0272-4332
DOI - 10.1111/risa.12462
Subject(s) - viewpoints , uncertainty , perception , risk communication , feeling , affect (linguistics) , risk perception , psychology , science communication , social psychology , public relations , political science , risk analysis (engineering) , business , science education , mathematics education , mathematics , communication , neuroscience , visual arts , art , statistics
Research indicates that uncertainty in science news stories affects public assessment of risk and uncertainty. However, the form in which uncertainty is presented may also affect people's risk and uncertainty assessments. For example, a news story that features an expert discussing both what is known and what is unknown about a topic may convey a different form of scientific uncertainty than a story that features two experts who hold conflicting opinions about the status of scientific knowledge of the topic, even when both stories contain the same information about knowledge and its boundaries. This study focuses on audience uncertainty and risk perceptions regarding the emerging science of nanotechnology by manipulating whether uncertainty in a news story about potential risks is attributed to expert sources in the form of caveats (individual uncertainty) or conflicting viewpoints (collective uncertainty). Results suggest that the type of uncertainty portrayed does not impact audience feelings of uncertainty or risk perceptions directly. Rather, the presentation of the story influences risk perceptions only among those who are highly deferent to scientific authority. Implications for risk communication theory and practice are discussed.