ニューメラシーがリスク情報提供後の不安変化に及ぼす影響 --食品中の放射性物質と首都直下型地震を題材として--

Abstract

Numeracy is defined as the ability to understand and use mathematical and probabilistic concepts, andone of the central components of risk literacy. However, there were not so many studies about the effect ofnumeracy on fear after risk information was provided. This study conducted a nationwide online survey toinvestigate the effect of numeracy on fear when providing information about risk comparison: a method to comparesame risks at different times. The reason why risk comparison was used is that it is one of the methods forcommunicating risk as probabilistic concept. Results showed that people with higher numeracy more decreasedtheir fear after the level of risk decreased, while people with lower numeracy increased their fear. These resultswere obtained with two materials about radioactive substances in food and Tokyo inland earthquake.