The Affect Heuristic: Implications for Understanding and Managing Risk-Induced Stigma

The word stigma was used by the ancient Greeks to refer to a mark placed on an individual to signify infamy or disgrace. One defining characteristic of a stigma is the risk that the marked person is perceived to pose to society. Within the social sciences, there is an extensive literature on the topic of stigma as it applies to people and social groups. By means of its association with risk, the concept of stigma has recently come to be generalized to technologies, places, and products that are perceived as unduly dangerous.