Approaches To Communicating Risk

This chapter presents an overview of 14 of the most common approaches to risk communication as well as implications for those who are communicating risk and how the approach might be used in various situations. The discussion includes the communication process approach, national research council's approach, mental models approach, crisis communication approach, convergence communication approach, threehchallenge approach, social constructionist approach, and hazard plus outrage approach. No one approach to risk communication can be applied equally well to all the purposes, audiences, and situations for which risk is being communicated. Instead approaches to risk communication come from a variety of disciplines, each of which can provide insight to those who are communicating the risk. Understanding the various approaches and their implications can provide us with a repertoire of ways to develop our risk communication efforts, giving us a greater chance of success than if we were communicating without this knowledge.