Insights and Commentaries
Effective risk communications: A behavioural research approach
Common communication problems include confusing wording and misunderstanding motivations
People face daily decisions about their health, finances, and environmental footprint. Well-meaning medical doctors, financial advisors, climate scientists and other experts may attempt to develop communications aimed at improving people’s judgments and decisions about specific topics. Such communication efforts may fail due to experts lacking insights about the wants and needs of their audience.
Professor Wändi Bruine de Bruin, Director of the Centre for Decision Research at the University of Leeds spoke at NUS on 28 August 2018 on how behavioural science can be incorporated in developing a communications strategy.
“The single biggest problem in communications is the illusion that it has taken place.” – Prof Bruine de Bruin
Prof Bruine de Bruin shared her observations on common communication problems such as the use of confusing wording, failure to address relevant gaps and concerns, and misunderstanding motivations. For example, when communicating to the UK public on heat waves, Prof Bruine de Bruin’s research found that people often associated warm weather with positive experiences and emotions. Hence, instead of encouraging people to take precautions against heat injury, heat wave warnings often had the opposite effect. The solution proposed was to remind people of their own unpleasant experiences with heat reduces positive emotions and increases willingness to implement heat protection behaviour.
