Variability in the Framing of Risk Issues

Abstract

Decision making about environmental and public health risks has become a frequent source of social conflict in society, often resulting in major obstacles to effective risk management and disruptions in the policy process. Individuals vary not only in policy preferences and responses to environmental hazards, but also in underlying belief and value systems that influence several aspects of the environmental decision‐making process. In particular, variability in the framing of risk issues can exacerbate conflict, leading to differences in which perspectives are judged legitimate or valid, what solutions are seen as reasonable, and what type of information is seen as useful or relevant. In many controversies, groups have differed systematically in framing risk issues: as scientific or economic vs. fairness and equity questions, in terms of what at‐risk population is highlighted, and in focusing primarily on potential gain or loss as the result of a decision.