Chapter 9 Perceptions of Environmental Hazards: Psychological Perspectives

Psychological research on risk perception is the focus of this chapter, originated in empirical studies of probability assessment, utility assessment, and decision making processes. A major development in this area has been the discovery of a set of mental strategies, or heuristics, that people employ in order to make sense out of an uncertain world. The chapter addresses the social amplification of risk. The research described in this chapter has implications for social impact analysis that transcend the conflicts and concerns surrounding the proposed Yucca Mountain repository. The study of socioeconomic impacts at Yucca Mountain has demonstrated that the so-called “standard effects” of large engineering projects on local employment, housing, and transportation have the potential to be dwarfed by the "special effects" of risk perception and stigma.