Attention increases environmental risk perception.

Background. Environmental destruction is one of the most important problems in this century. Objective. The aim of the study was to determine the environmental attitudes and perceived risks associated with environmental factors of the students. Methods. This cross-sectional study was conducted in 7 faculties of Mersin University. The research data were collected using a questionnaire. The questionnaire included sociodemographic characteristics, the “Environmental Attitudes Scale,” and the “Environmental Risk Perception Scale.” 774 students who filled out questionnaires were evaluated. Results. The sample included 55.8% females. Environmental Attitudes Scale mean scores of students were identified as 81.1±11.3. The highest perceived risk was release of radioactive materials associated with nuclear power generation. The environmental attitudes and risk perception scores were higher in Health Sciences than in the other faculties. Females were more positive towards the environment and had higher risk perceptions than the men. There is a negative correlation between age and resource depletion risk and global environmental risk score. Conclusion. Students had a positive attitude to the environment and had moderate-level risk perception about the environment. Environmental awareness of students, especially those studying in the Social Sciences, should be increased. The environmental education curriculum should be revised throughout all the courses.

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Environmental Risk Perception, Activism and World-Mindedness among Samples of British and U.S. College Students

Perceptual and Motor Skills ◽

10.2466/pms.1996.83.2.451 ◽

1996 ◽

Vol 83 (2) ◽

pp. 451-462 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Aghop Der-Karabetian ◽

Kathy Stephenson ◽

Tiffany Poggi

Keyword(s):

College Students ◽

Risk Perception ◽

Environmental Risk ◽

Environmental Behavior ◽

Value Orientation ◽

Environmental Activism ◽

Perceptions Of Risk ◽

Future Action ◽

Environmental Risk Perception ◽

Superordinate Goals

Hypotheses were tested that greater perception of environmental risk and stronger world-minded value orientation are associated with more pro-environmental behavior among samples of British ( n = 96) and U.S. ( n = 119) college students. Risk perception was assessed in terms of emotional and cognitive aspects. Behavior was assessed in terms of present action and commitment to future action. The hypotheses were generally supported for both samples, with emotionality in risk perception tending to be more strongly related to pro-environmental behavior. Greater perceptions of risk and activism were also related to stronger world-mindedness. Results are discussed in terms of the importance of emotionality in pro-environmental activism and an hypothesis about superordinate goals.

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Perception of delayed environmental risks: beyond time discounting

Disaster Prevention and Management An International Journal ◽

10.1108/dpm-06-2013-0099 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 23 (2) ◽

pp. 112-122 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Yang Liu ◽

Charlene Xie ◽

Shengxiang She

Keyword(s):

Time Delay ◽

Risk Perception ◽

Environmental Risk ◽

Environmental Risks ◽

Delay Effect ◽

Time Discounting ◽

Content Type ◽

Environmental Risk Perception ◽

Student Subjects ◽

Time Delay Effect

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to explore the effect of time delay on the perception of environmental risks beyond time discounting, and thus provide a reference for effective communication related to environment and environmental risks. Design/methodology/approach – Ten risk scenarios across four time delay conditions were designed. Computer program randomly presented different risk scenarios to student subjects. Risk perception was measured through equivalent certain loss elicited by bi-section method. In all, 50 students from Harbin Institute of Technology Shenzhen Graduate School participated in the experiment. Findings – Time delay makes the subjects optimistic toward environmental risk with the exclusion of time discounting. The more distant in time the occurrence of an environmental risk, the less in intensity subjects will perceive it as a severe threat. Also, there is a noticeable difference in environmental risk perception between males and females. Research limitations/implications – This tentative research focusses on exploring the existence of time delay effect on environmental risk perception. Only student subjects are recruited for this research. Future studies are needed to extend the population to people of different backgrounds in order to generalize the finding. Practical implications – Current ethical appeal of zero social discount rate is unlikely to be effective. Time delay effect in people's environmental risk perception should be acknowledged. Such an acknowledgement is the basis of trust in risk communication. Communication effort needs to address this time delay effect to make people alert to long-term environmental risks, and eventually change their environmental behaviors. Originality/value – The explorative research represents the first attempt to investigate the effect of time delay on environmental risk perception when time discounting is excluded. It suggests a new direction to understand public optimism toward delayed environmental risks, and reluctance to take proactive actions, and thus offers a new insight into related communication efforts.

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