Berryessa Colleen M, Caplan Joel M
School of Criminal Justice, Rutgers University, Newark, NJ, United States.
Front Psychol. 2020 Sep 4;11:2222. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.02222. eCollection 2020.
The current study, using a multi-factorial survey experiment with a sample of the general public ( = 800), investigates if and how types of risk information on crime and public safety, such as maps, graphs, or tables, commonly used and communicated by law enforcement elicit dual-process (affective and cognitive) risk information processing in risk-based decision-making, and if such processing or decision-making differs depending on the risk level, context, or the type or format of risk information communicated. Participants responded to a vignette in which they were asked to choose a ride-share pick-up point within a certain geographic area with varying risk levels of being involved in a pedestrian-automobile crash. Results showed that risk information related to crime and public safety elicits dual-process risk information processing, and that both affective and cognitive processing significantly predicted risk-based decision-making, regardless of the risk level or type of risk information examined. Interestingly, risk information was used to create an almost "black and white" distinction for participants, in which their lowest-risk choice was treated as their comparison point, relative to all other higher levels of risk, in risk processing and decision-making. Further, the risk level or type of risk information examined did affect the nature and level of affective and cognitive processing elicited, suggesting that different types or characteristics of risk information can change modes of processing and their effects on risk-based decisions. Our findings provide first-of-its-kind data that show members of the general public, as consumers of risk information in relation to crime and public safety, process and make decisions surrounding such information using the dual-process approach. Implications for communicating risk information in relation to crime and public safety to both the general public and police, as well as how to extend the current inquiry to future areas of research on police, are discussed.
本研究采用多因素调查实验，以普通公众为样本（ = 800），调查执法部门常用并传达的犯罪和公共安全风险信息类型（如图表或表格）是否以及如何在基于风险的决策中引发双过程（情感和认知）风险信息处理，以及这种处理或决策是否因风险水平、背景或所传达风险信息的类型或格式而异。参与者对一个情景进行了回应，在该情景中，他们被要求在一个特定地理区域内选择一个拼车接送点，该区域涉及行人与汽车碰撞的风险水平各不相同。结果表明，与犯罪和公共安全相关的风险信息会引发双过程风险信息处理，并且情感和认知处理均显著预测了基于风险的决策，无论所考察的风险水平或风险信息类型如何。有趣的是，风险信息为参与者创造了一种几乎“非黑即白”的区分，在风险处理和决策过程中，他们将最低风险选择视为相对于所有其他更高风险水平的比较点。此外，所考察的风险水平或风险信息类型确实会影响所引发的情感和认知处理的性质和水平，这表明不同类型或特征的风险信息可以改变处理模式及其对基于风险决策的影响。我们的研究结果提供了首个此类数据，表明普通公众作为犯罪和公共安全风险信息的消费者，使用双过程方法处理和围绕此类信息做出决策。本文讨论了向普通公众和警方传达与犯罪和公共安全相关风险信息的意义，以及如何将当前的研究扩展到未来关于警方的研究领域。
