An explanation is that when presented bunches of information about possibilities of risk, our brains often remember the gist—the general magnitude—rather than details. Related to this, people average the impressions. This means that adding a low- to a high-risk consideration will lower the overall perceived risk. Risk can arise from a side effect’s severity and/or its likelihood.
A duo of University of Calgary and Miami University researchers found this effect with risk assessments of rheumatoid arthritis medication, a dietary supplement to aid sleep, and an eye massager device. The researchers than went on to identify a way marketers might lessen these judgment distortions by consumers: Present the probability of side effects using a pictograph. For each side effect described, the risk was portrayed by a corresponding number of symbols in a column.
Note that this graphical presentation technique did not result in a treatment option with multiple side effects being judged as more risky than a treatment option with a single side effect. It instead prevented the one with multiple side effects from being judged as less risky than the one with a single side effect. There is still a judgment distortion.
Also note that the severity of the risk plays into all this. In the studies, the gist-averaging was often overridden when the risk of one treatment side effect was extremely high.
And in a University of Texas and Northwestern University study, a single highly-risky consequence overwhelmed consideration of other consequences: The researchers asked people to say which of two cars they’d be more likely to purchase. The first car was equipped with an airbag which was less likely to ultimately save a life in the event of a serious accident. The other car had an airbag that was more likely to save a life, but it also had a miniscule chance of causing death because of the force of airbag deployment.
Most of the study participants chose the first car, thereby accepting a far greater chance of being harmed in an accident. In this study, too, presenting the information graphically led to participants’ more rational decisions.
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Add Risk Notices to Dilute Risk Opinion
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