Gaskell George, Allum Nick, Wagner Wolfgang, Kronberger Nicole, Torgersen Helge, Hampel Juergen, Bardes Julie
Department of Social Psychology, London School of Economics, Centre for the Analysis of Risk and Regulation, London, UK.
Risk Anal. 2004 Feb;24(1):185-94. doi: 10.1111/j.0272-4332.2004.00421.x.
Public opposition to genetically modified (GM) food and crops is widely interpreted as the result of the public's misperception of the risks. With scientific assessment pointing to no unique risks from GM crops and foods, a strategy of accurate risk communication from trusted sources has been advocated. This is based on the assumption that the benefits of GM crops and foods are self-evident. Informed by the interpretation of some qualitative interviews with lay people, we use data from the Eurobarometer survey on biotechnology to explore the hypothesis that it is not so much the perception of risks as the absence of benefits that is the basis of the widespread rejection of GM foods and crops by the European public. Some respondents perceive both risks and benefits, and may be trading off these attributes along the lines of a rational choice model. However, for others, one attribute-benefit-appears to dominate their judgments: the lexicographic heuristic. For these respondents, their perception of risk is of limited importance in the formation of attitudes toward GM food and crops. The implication is that the absence of perceived benefits from GM foods and crops calls into question the relevance of risk communication strategies for bringing about change in public opinion.
公众对转基因食品和作物的反对被广泛解读为公众对风险的误解所致。鉴于科学评估表明转基因作物和食品不存在独特风险，有人主张采用由可靠来源进行准确风险沟通的策略。这基于转基因作物和食品的益处不言而喻这一假设。基于对一些外行人定性访谈的解读，我们利用欧洲晴雨表生物技术调查的数据，来探究这样一种假设，即欧洲公众广泛抵制转基因食品和作物的依据，与其说是对风险的认知，不如说是缺乏益处。一些受访者既认识到风险也认识到益处，并且可能按照理性选择模型来权衡这些特性。然而，对另一些人而言，一个特性——益处——似乎主导着他们的判断：即词典式启发法。对于这些受访者来说，他们对风险的认知在形成对转基因食品和作物的态度方面重要性有限。这意味着，转基因食品和作物未被察觉到有益处，使得风险沟通策略对于改变公众舆论的相关性受到质疑。
