Implicit and explicit risk perception, affect, and trust : an investigation of food "traffic lights"

Obesity is a health problem in many developed countries and is a growing problem worldwide. In an effort to improve food choices the "traffic lights" nutritional labelling system has been developed. This system informs consumers of the relative (low, medium, high) levels of fat, saturated fats, sugar, and salt, along with energy information. There is debate over what type of thought processing drives perceptions of affect (or emotion) and risk regarding food products. These are System 1 (quick, intuitive) processing and System 2 (slower, deliberative) processing. In order to capture data on both types of processing, we used explicit and implicit measures (we developed an implicit measure of risk for this study). We also investigated the relationships of risk with affect, and trust. The results showed the presence of food "traffic lights" sometimes influenced both risk and affect perceptions but this was more pronounced for explicit measures. We also found that high risk was associated with negative affect, and low risk with positive affect, with larger effects when the “traffic lights” were present. We concluded that "traffic lights" can influence risk perception at both explicit and implicit levels but the influence was stronger if either the risk information was clear or the person was consciously evaluating the risk. Future research was discussed

INVENTORY AND TRANSFORMATION RISKS IN SOYBEAN PROCESSING

This study examines strategies for hedging processing operations generally and uses soybean processing as a specific example. The approach assumes a mean-variance utility function but because of the focus on hedging, the analysis concentrates on risk minimization with risk defined as the variance of the processing margin from its currently expected level. We find that risk so defined contains three components. These are (1) the risk of input/output cash price misalignment at the time of transactions, (2) the risk resulting from the firm's inability to utilize inputs and produce outputs in proportion to the mix that minimizes risk in cash market transactions, and (3) the risk of price change during the time between the purchase of inputs and the sale of outputs. The first two risk components are transformation risk while the third is inventory risk. The relationships between inventory and transformation risks were examined using daily price data from January 1, 1990 through March 23, 2000. Our analysis indicates that inventory risk is the largest of the three components, it increases in a roughly linear relationship with the temporal separation between pricing of inputs and outputs, it is the risk that is hedged with usual hedging models, and that hedging reduces this risk by a proportion of its amount. Consequently, even when hedged, processors face risks that increase with the time that separates the pricing of inputs and outputs and this risk is far larger than the risk of product transformation. In soybean processing, the proportion of risk eliminated through hedging reaches a peak for process lengths of one week with gradual declines thereafter. We also find that the risk-minimizing hedge ratios for soybean meal and soybean oil depend on the length of the anticipated hedging period.Crop Production/Industries,

Systematic and multifactor risk models revisited

Systematic and multifactor risk models are revisited via methods which were already successfully developed in signal processing and in automatic control. The results, which bypass the usual criticisms on those risk modeling, are illustrated by several successful computer experiments.Comment: First Paris Financial Management Conference, Paris : France (2013

Advancing Understanding of Knowledge\u27s Role in Lay Risk Perception

Emphasizing how knowledge affects lay Risk perception, summarizing studies and suggesting further research, the author differentiates between knowledge production, knowledge dissemination and information processing as affected by, e.g., heuristics and Risk aversion. He also suggests that better understanding of lay knowledge can also illuminate experts\u27 hazard knowledge

Preferences under risk: content-dependent behavior and psychological processing

A common view in economics and psychology is that decision agents achieve their choices and express their respective preferences by computing probabilistic properties (probabilities and money) from a decisionmaking context (e.g., von Neumann and Morgenstern, 1947; Tversky and Kahneman, 1992; Starmer, 2000). In this computational processing, the main psychological mechanism requires that decision agents are able to integrate economic (contextual) attributes such as money and probabilities into subjective values; in other words people are able to construct and employ psycho-economic scales. Subsequently, when making a choice, decision agents are supposed to perform tradeoffs between the computed outputs (psycho-economic variables such as expected values) and certain monetary alternatives (see Kahneman and Tversky, 1979; Tversky and Kahneman, 1992

The potential impact of explicit Basel II operational risk capital charges on the competitive environment of processing banks in the United States

Basel II replaces Basel I’s implicit capital charge on operational risk with an explicit charge. Certain U.S. banks concentrated in processing-related business lines – which have significant operational risk – could thus face an increase in overall minimum regulatory capital requirements. Some have argued that, as a result, these so-called “processing banks” would be disadvantaged vis-à-vis competitors not subject to regulatory capital requirements for operational risk. This paper evaluates these concerns.Bank capital ; Risk management ; Basel capital accord

Predicting Dyslexia Based on Pre-reading Auditory and Speech Perception Skills

Purpose: This longitudinal study examines measures of temporal auditory processing in pre-reading children with a family risk of dyslexia. Specifically, it attempts to ascertain whether pre-reading auditory processing, speech perception, and phonological awareness (PA) reliably predict later literacy achievement. Additionally, this study retrospectively examines the presence of pre-reading auditory processing, speech perception, and PA impairments in children later found to be literacy impaired. Method: Forty-four pre-reading children with and without a family risk of dyslexia were assessed at three time points (kindergarten, first, and second grade). Auditory processing measures of rise time (RT) discrimination and frequency modulation (FM) along with speech perception, PA, and various literacy tasks were assessed. Results: Kindergarten RT uniquely contributed to growth in literacy in grades one and two, even after controlling for letter knowledge and PA. Highly significant concurrent and predictive correlations were observed with kindergarten RT significantly predicting first grade PA. Retrospective analysis demonstrated atypical performance in RT and PA at all three time points in children who later developed literacy impairments. Conclusions: Although significant, kindergarten auditory processing contributions to later literacy growth lack the power to be considered as a single-cause predictor; thus results support temporal processing deficits’ contribution within a multiple deficit model of dyslexia

Predicting future reading problems based on pre-reading auditory measures: a longitudinal study of children with a familial risk of dyslexia

Purpose: This longitudinal study examines measures of temporal auditory processing in pre-reading children with a family risk of dyslexia. Specifically, it attempts to ascertain whether pre-reading auditory processing, speech perception, and phonological awareness (PA) reliably predict later literacy achievement. Additionally, this study retrospectively examines the presence of pre-reading auditory processing, speech perception, and PA impairments in children later found to be literacy impaired. Method: Forty-four pre-reading children with and without a family risk of dyslexia were assessed at three time points (kindergarten, first, and second grade). Auditory processing measures of rise time (RT) discrimination and frequency modulation (FM) along with speech perception, PA, and various literacy tasks were assessed. Results: Kindergarten RT uniquely contributed to growth in literacy in grades one and two, even after controlling for letter knowledge and PA. Highly significant concurrent and predictive correlations were observed with kindergarten RT significantly predicting first grade PA. Retrospective analysis demonstrated atypical performance in RT and PA at all three time points in children who later developed literacy impairments. Conclusions: Although significant, kindergarten auditory processing contributions to later literacy growth lack the power to be considered as a single-cause predictor; thus results support temporal processing deficits’ contribution within a multiple deficit model of dyslexia

A longitudinal high-risk study of adolescent anxiety, depression and parent-severity on the developmental course of risk-adjustment

Background Adolescence is associated with developments in the reward system and increased rates of emotional disorders. Familial risk for depression may be associated with disruptions in the reward system. However, it is unclear how symptoms of depression and anxiety influence the development of reward-processing over adolescence and whether variation in the severity of parental depression is associated with hyposensitivity to reward in a high-risk sample. Methods We focused on risk-adjustment (adjusting decisions about reward according to the probability of obtaining reward) as this was hypothesized to improve over adolescence. In a one-year longitudinal sample (N = 197) of adolescent offspring of depressed parents, we examined how symptoms of depression and anxiety (generalized anxiety and social anxiety) influenced the development of risk-adjustment. We also examined how parental depression severity influenced adolescent risk-adjustment. Results Risk-adjustment improved over the course of the study indicating improved adjustment of reward-seeking to shifting contingencies. Depressive symptoms were associated with decreases in risk-adjustment over time while social anxiety symptoms were associated with increases in risk-adjustment over time. Specifically, depression was associated with reductions in reward-seeking at favourable reward probabilities only, whereas social anxiety (but not generalized anxiety) led to reductions in reward-seeking at low reward probabilities only. Parent depression severity was associated with lowered risk-adjustment in offspring and also influenced the longitudinal relationship between risk-adjustment and offspring depression. Conclusions Anxiety and depression distinctly alter the pattern of longitudinal change in reward-processing. Severity of parent depression was associated with alterations in adolescent offspring reward-processing in a high-risk sample