Abstract
Many experts believe the risk of nuclear war today is the highest it’s been in generations. Yet much of the public has little awareness of nuclear threats and is ill-prepared to take the actions needed to save lives, including their own. Using a survey experiment on a diverse national sample of U.S. citizens fielded across two time periods, this study evaluates the impact of risk communication regarding nuclear weapons threat. We measure the effectiveness of nuclear preparedness messages across formats, finding infographics to be the most effective. Importantly, we also find that any message exposure improves recall of the recommended action, confidence, and message acceptance, with these shifts positively impacting subsequent behavioral intentions.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1205-1227 |
| Number of pages | 23 |
| Journal | Journal of Risk Research |
| Volume | 24 |
| Issue number | 10 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 2021 |
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Safety, Risk, Reliability and Quality
- General Engineering
- General Social Sciences
- Strategy and Management
Keywords
- Nuclear weapons
- emergency preparedness
- infographic
- message format
- risk communication