Department of Communication, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.
Department of Politics, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK.
Risk Anal. 2020 Feb;40(2):385-398. doi: 10.1111/risa.13387. Epub 2019 Aug 27.
Whether on grounds of perceived safety, aesthetics, or overall quality of life, residents may wish to be aware of nearby energy sites such as nuclear reactors, refineries, and fracking wells. Yet people are not always accurate in their impressions of proximity. Indeed, our data show that only 54% of Americans living within 25 miles of a nuclear site say they do, and even fewer fracking-proximal (30%) and refinery-proximal (24%) residents respond accurately. In this article, we analyze factors that could either help people form more accurate perceptions or distort their impressions of proximity. We evaluate these hypotheses using a large national survey sample and corresponding geographic information system (GIS) data. Results show that among those living in close proximity to energy sites, those who perceive greater risk are less likely to report living nearby. Conversely, social contact with employees of these industries increases perceived proximity regardless of actual distance. These relationships are consistent across each site type we examine. Other potential factors-such as local news use-may play a role in proximity perception on a case-by-case basis. Our findings are an important step toward a more generalizable understanding of how the public forms perceptions of proximity to risk sites, showing multiple potential mechanisms of bias.
出于对感知安全、美观或整体生活质量的考虑，居民可能希望了解附近的能源设施，如核反应堆、炼油厂和水力压裂井。然而，人们对距离的印象并不总是准确的。事实上，我们的数据显示，只有 54%的居住在距离核设施 25 英里范围内的美国人表示他们知道，而居住在水力压裂设施附近（30%）和炼油厂附近（24%）的居民则更少能准确回答。在本文中，我们分析了可能有助于人们形成更准确看法或扭曲其对距离印象的因素。我们使用大型全国调查样本和相应的地理信息系统（GIS）数据来评估这些假设。结果表明，在那些居住在能源设施附近的人中，那些认为风险更大的人不太可能报告居住在附近。相反，与这些行业的员工有社会接触会增加对邻近的感知，而不管实际距离如何。这些关系在我们研究的每种设施类型中都是一致的。其他潜在因素，如对当地新闻的使用，可能会根据具体情况对距离感知产生影响。我们的研究结果是朝着更广泛地理解公众如何形成对风险场所的距离感知迈出的重要一步，展示了多种潜在的偏见机制。
