Dillard Amanda J, McCaul Kevin D, Kelso Pamela D, Klein William M P
Department of Psychology, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND 58105, USA.
Health Commun. 2006;19(2):115-23. doi: 10.1207/s15327027hc1902_3.
Many women overestimate their percentage risk of breast cancer, even after they have received careful estimates from health professionals. In 2 experiments with 134 young adult women, 6 variables were explored that might influence such risk perception persistence. In Study 1, each of the following explanations was unrelated to persistence: public commitment, self-consistency, and unique causal risk models. In Study 2, two individual difference measures, pessimism and differences in understanding percentages, were unrelated to risk perception persistence. However, providing a "risk anchor" based on downward social comparison processes resulted in better risk acceptance at posttest that persisted at a 2-week follow-up assessment. This article discusses why comparison anchors might be important in risk feedback situations and concludes with recommendations for professionals who wish to provide accurate risk information and have patients adopt that information.
许多女性高估了自己患乳腺癌的风险比例，即便她们已经从健康专家那里得到了精确的评估。在针对134名年轻成年女性开展的两项实验中，研究人员探究了可能影响这种风险认知持续性的6个变量。在研究1中，以下各项解释均与持续性无关：公开承诺、自我一致性和独特的因果风险模型。在研究2中，两种个体差异测量指标——悲观情绪和对百分比理解的差异——与风险认知持续性无关。然而，基于向下社会比较过程提供一个“风险锚点”，会使后测时的风险接受度更高，且这种情况在两周后的随访评估中依然持续。本文讨论了为什么比较锚点在风险反馈情境中可能很重要，并为那些希望提供准确风险信息并让患者接受这些信息的专业人员给出了建议。
