Does communication of uncertainty influence people’s emotions and public participation intention? A psychophysiological study
Session
Journalism, Media and Communication
Description
Communication is a crucial aspect of life. Nowadays, when we are surrounded by risk and uncertainty, communication helps the receivers of the information make informed judgments and decisions.Until now, a lot of attention has been paid to risk communication and its effects. However, research on uncertainty communication still remains scarce. This research addresses the impact that uncertainty communication can have on emotions and participation intention. To test this, we focus on the case of decommissioning of nuclear installations. Decommissioning of nuclear installations is now a pertinent energy-related matter since most of the nuclear reactors built during nuclear renaissance will soon need to be shut down due to their limited operational lifetime. The method of this study consists of a 2x2 experimental design where we divide participants (N=137) in 2 groups, namely 1) participants that are experienced/knowledgeable with the topic of decommissioning and 2) participants that have little to no knowledge/experience with decommissioning. Each of these two groups are then further divided into experimental or control group. The experimental group receives information about the uncertainties in addition to introduction to decommissioning, whereas the control group receives introduction to decommissioning only. Data is collected by asking the respondents to fill in a survey in the lab’s computer while keeping a Galvanic Skin Response (GSR) device on their hands during the whole survey. This device measures the skin conductivity and heart rate variability as a measurement of participants’ emotional reaction towards different stimuli. This way, we can test the impact of uncertainty communication on participation intention by analyzing their survey answers. In addition, we can also measure the impact of uncertainty communication on participants’ emotional arousal by using the GSR device for measuring the psychophysiological reaction. The findings of this study will contribute to scientific literature on the impact of uncertainty communication on public participation intention and emotional arousal. Given that until now the most studies analyzing the impact of uncertainty communication on feelings and emotions have been based on self-assessment scales, this study will contribute by using for the first time the psychophysiological measurement of emotional reaction towards uncertainty communication.
Keywords:
Uncertainty; emotions; participation intention.
Proceedings Editor
Edmond Hajrizi
ISBN
978-9951-550-47-5
Location
UBT Kampus, Lipjan
Start Date
30-10-2021 12:00 AM
End Date
30-10-2021 12:00 AM
DOI
10.33107/ubt-ic.2021.232
Recommended Citation
Hoti, Ferdiana, "Does communication of uncertainty influence people’s emotions and public participation intention? A psychophysiological study" (2021). UBT International Conference. 241.
https://knowledgecenter.ubt-uni.net/conference/2021UBTIC/all-events/241
Does communication of uncertainty influence people’s emotions and public participation intention? A psychophysiological study
UBT Kampus, Lipjan
Communication is a crucial aspect of life. Nowadays, when we are surrounded by risk and uncertainty, communication helps the receivers of the information make informed judgments and decisions.Until now, a lot of attention has been paid to risk communication and its effects. However, research on uncertainty communication still remains scarce. This research addresses the impact that uncertainty communication can have on emotions and participation intention. To test this, we focus on the case of decommissioning of nuclear installations. Decommissioning of nuclear installations is now a pertinent energy-related matter since most of the nuclear reactors built during nuclear renaissance will soon need to be shut down due to their limited operational lifetime. The method of this study consists of a 2x2 experimental design where we divide participants (N=137) in 2 groups, namely 1) participants that are experienced/knowledgeable with the topic of decommissioning and 2) participants that have little to no knowledge/experience with decommissioning. Each of these two groups are then further divided into experimental or control group. The experimental group receives information about the uncertainties in addition to introduction to decommissioning, whereas the control group receives introduction to decommissioning only. Data is collected by asking the respondents to fill in a survey in the lab’s computer while keeping a Galvanic Skin Response (GSR) device on their hands during the whole survey. This device measures the skin conductivity and heart rate variability as a measurement of participants’ emotional reaction towards different stimuli. This way, we can test the impact of uncertainty communication on participation intention by analyzing their survey answers. In addition, we can also measure the impact of uncertainty communication on participants’ emotional arousal by using the GSR device for measuring the psychophysiological reaction. The findings of this study will contribute to scientific literature on the impact of uncertainty communication on public participation intention and emotional arousal. Given that until now the most studies analyzing the impact of uncertainty communication on feelings and emotions have been based on self-assessment scales, this study will contribute by using for the first time the psychophysiological measurement of emotional reaction towards uncertainty communication.