食品リスク認知の感情ヒューリスティックに及ぼすニューメラシーの抑制効果

Abstract

食品は生きるために必要な栄養分を供給するが，多くの食品に発がん物質が含まれていることも否定できない事実である。例えば，国際がん研究機関（International Agency for Research on Cancer: IARC）が 2015 年に加工肉や赤肉に発がん性があると発表したことは，マスコミで取り上げられるや否や国内で大きな話題となった（農林水産省，2015）。こうしたことから，リスクとベネフィットを比較検討して食品を選択することが重要と考えられる。

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of numeracy on risk and benefit perceptions of food. Previous studies have shown that people tend to rely on affect feelings when appraising risk and benefit. These studies have also shown that people manifest an inverse relationship between perceived risk and benefit. However, there have not been so many studies about the roles of numeracy and critical thinking on balanced perceptions of risk and benefit. Therefore, the present study used two online surveys to clarify their roles. Results showed that people with higher numeracy had better comprehension of food risk/benefit information. Results also showed that perceived risk and benefit had a positive correlation for people with higher numeracy after information had been provided. These results were similar between Study 1 on coffee (N = 461) and Study 2 on red and processed meat (N = 496). The results suggest that people with higher numeracy have balanced perceptions of food risk/benefit, relying more on numerical information than on affect.