FOR 2374:  The Dynamics of Risk - Perception and Behavior in the Context of Mental and Physical Health (RISKDYNAMICS)

• Subject Area: Social and Behavioural Sciences
• Term: from 2016 to 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 273711585

People all over the world are exposed to many health risks in the form of communicable or noncommunicable diseases, injury, violence, or natural catastrophe. To date, the major global risks for mortality are often directly or indirectly related to individual decisions and behaviors. Advancing the understanding of risk perception and its consequences for preventive behavior is therefore highly important, particularly in societies which increasingly expect individuals to take responsibility for their health-related behaviors. Even though commonly faced hazards and risks in modern societies wax and wane with time, most existing risk perception research is cross-sectional. The present Research Unit aims to close the gap between the dynamic nature of risk perception in real-life settings and the static view applied in previous research. Accordingly, a systematic research program is proposed to examine the dynamic nature of risk perception and its relation to precautionary behavior across time in the context of mental and physical health, with the long-term goal of advancing and specifying theories on risk perception and health behavior changes to better inform and design effective public health promotion. The Research Unit brings researchers from different fields of psychology together in a joint effort to develop an integrative, data-driven understanding of the stability and dynamic change of risk perceptions from a risk cycle perspective by distinguishing between pre-event, acute, and post-event phases of critical, risk-relevant events ranging from repeated micro-events, such as risky choices in experimental contexts, to macro-events, such as infectious disease epidemics at a global scale. Moreover, the proposed Research Unit will examine risk perception as it changes in dependence of Preparedness (e.g., dispositions, expectancies), Exposure to critical, risk-related events, and Coping with the exposure (e.g., behavior change). The study of Preparedness-Exposure-Coping (PEC) Cycles promises novel insights into the mechanisms and interplay of dynamic change in risk perception and precautionary behavior. To capture the dynamic nature of risk perceptions and precautionary behaviors, novel methodological approaches and study designs are used in eight interconnected research projects. Overall, the present Research Unit seeks to contribute to a better understanding of the question, 'How can we induce people to look after their health?, which, in a recent social science survey conducted by the US National Science Foundation, has been ranked as the most challenging contemporary issue. Novel data and findings will help to advance and specify theories on risk perception and are indispensable for designing effective risk communication and novel ways to facilitate adaptive behavior changes.

• DFG Programme: Research Units

Projects

• Addiction Risk: The dynamics of risk perception and risk behavior in alcohol addiction (Applicants Odenwald, Michael ;  Rockstroh, Brigitte )
• Contagious Risk Perception: The Social Dynamics of Risk Perception and Attitudes Towards Preventive Behaviors (Applicant Gaissmaier, Wolfgang )
• Coordination Funds (Applicant Renner, Britta )
• Modeling risk perception and risk taking in dynamic situations (Applicant Hübner, Ronald )
• Personalized Risk: Changes in risk perception and health behavior after multiple personalized risk feedback (Applicant Renner, Britta )
• Social Contact Risk: Dynamic Changes in Social Risk Perception and Interpersonal Behavior (Applicants Renner, Britta ;  Schupp, Harald )
• Updating Risk: Mindsets, Post-decisional Defensiveness, and Dynamic Updating Processes in Risk Perception and Risk Taking (Applicant Gollwitzer, Peter M. )

• Spokesperson: Professorin Dr. Britta Renner