The social amplification of risk and the hazard sequence: The October 1995 oral contraceptive pill scare

Hazard notifications routinely occur as part of the identification or management of a hazard. It is argued that a series of such notifications - a hazard sequence - may affect public responses to future notifications about that hazard and also that hazard sequences can help explain patterns of risk amplification, particularly how a risk becomes normalised. Exploration of the hazard sequence also means exploring hazard templates: frameworks through which people make sense of risk information across the lifetime of the hazard. Events surrounding the 1995 oral contraceptive 'pill scare' are used to illustrate the way in which a hazard sequence might operate

Social support, perceived risk and the likelihood of COVID-19 testing and vaccination: cross-sectional data from the United Kingdom

Two samples of 227 and 214 adults completed surveys of social support, perceived risk of COVID-19 and COVID-19 preventive activity – in Study 1 likelihood of testing was examined and in Study 2 likelihood of both testing and vaccination were examined during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom. Path analysis showed, in Study 1, that access to help (as an indicator of social support) had a direct effect on likelihood of testing and indirect effects through self-efficacy, perceived risk and preventive behavior; and, in Study 2, that neighborhood identification (as an indicator of social support) had a direct effect on likelihood of testing and indirect effects on likelihood of both testing and vaccination through the mediators of strength of social network, loneliness, perceived risk of COVID-19, and preventive activity. Both studies suggest that level of social support (conceptualized in different ways) is an important determinant of COVID-19 testing and Study 2 shows it is also a determinant of likelihood of vaccination. As resurgences of COVID-19 occur, it will be necessary to monitor the likelihood of COVID-19 testing and vaccination behaviors and, especially, to promote confidence in the latter in individuals with decreased access to social support

COVID-19 preventive behaviours in White British and Black, Asian and minority ethnic people in the UK

A model of the effects of ethnicity, political trust, trust in science, perceived ingroup power, COVID-19 risk, and fear of COVID-19 upon likelihood of COVID-19 preventive behaviour (CPB) is presented. The structural equation model was a good fit for survey data from 478 White British and Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) people. Ethnicity had a direct effect on CPB (BAME reported higher CPB) and an indirect effect on it through political trust, ingroup power, COVID-19 risk and trust in science. Ethnicity was not significantly related to COVID-19 fear. COVID-19 fear and trust in science were positively associated with CPB

The COVID-19 Preventive Behaviors Index: development and validation in two samples from the United Kingdom

Monitoring compliance with, and understanding the factors affecting, COVID-19 preventive behaviors requires a robust index of the level of subjective likelihood that the individual will engage in key COVID-19 preventive behaviors. In this article, the psychometric properties of the COVID-19 Preventive Behaviors Index (CPBI), including its development and validation in two samples in the United Kingdom, are described. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were performed on data from 470 participants in the United Kingdom who provided demographic information and completed the Fear of COVID-19 Scale, the COVID-19 Own Risk Appraisal Scale (CORAS) and the CPBI. Results showed that a unidimensional, ten-item model fits the data well, with satisfactory fit indices, internal consistency and high item loadings onto the factor. The CPBI correlated positively with both fear and perceived risk of COVID-19, suggesting good concurrent validity. The CPBI is a measure of the likelihood of engaging in preventive activity, rather than one of intention or actual action. It is adaptable enough to be used over time as a monitoring instrument by policy makers and a modelling tool by researchers

The construction of ethnic identity: insights from identity process theory

Ethnicity has received much empirical and theoretical attention in the social sciences. Yet, it has scarcely been explored in terms of its relationship with the motivational principles of identity. Here it is argued that there is much heuristic and predictive value in applying identity process theory (IPT), a socio-psychological model of identity threat, to the substantive literature on ethnicity. The paper explores the potential psychological benefits of ethnic identification. Key theoretical strands from anthropology and sociology, such as the ‘relational self’ in ethnic identification, are discussed in relation to IPT. The intergroup dimension of ethnic identification is explored through the discussion of ethnic 'boundaries'. Finally, the paper discusses the construct of 'hybridization' in relation to social psychology. This paper attempts to reconcile psychological and sociological perspectives on ethnic identification, advocating a multi-methodological approach. Key theoretical points are outlined in the form of testable hypotheses which are open to empirical exploration

HIV stigma in UK press reporting of a case of intentional HIV transmission

The UK has set itself the ambitious target of zero new HIV transmissions by 2030. HIV stigma is a significant barrier to achieving this target. Media reporting plays an important role in shaping social representations of HIV and of stigma. Between 2016 and 2018, the media in the UK reported on the Daryll Rowe case – the first criminal prosecution for intentional transmission of HIV in the UK. This article examines the way that UK newspapers reported this case, which may have exacerbated HIV stigma. Using Nexis, 178 UK newspaper articles were extracted and subjected to qualitative thematic analysis through a social constructionist lens. Informed by social representations theory, the analysis yielded three discursive themes: (1) Representing the perpetrator through HIV-focussed metaphors; (2) Constructing volitional ambiguity; and (3) Anchoring the lived experience of HIV to misery and death. UK newspapers constructed an ‘evil vs victimhood’ dichotomy in relation to Rowe and the men infected with HIV, respectively. This article argues that news coverage of the Rowe story constructs HIV in ways that are inconsistent with public health messaging. Reporting failed to note innovations in HIV treatment and prevention but instead disseminated stigmatising social representations of HIV. This is important because stigma impedes effective HIV prevention, engagement with HIV care and ultimately our ability to achieve the zero-infections target

Social representations of HIV/AIDS in five Central European and Eastern European countries: A multidimensional analysis

Cognitive processing models of risky sexual behaviour have proliferated in the two decades since the first reporting of HIV/AIDS, but far less attention has been paid to individual and group representations of the epidemic and the relationship between these representations and reported sexual behaviours. In this study, 494 business people and medics from Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Poland and Russia sorted free associations around HIV/AIDS in a matrix completion task. Exploratory factor and multidimensional scaling analyses revealed two main dimensions (labelled ‘Sex’ and ‘Deadly disease’), with significant cultural and gender variations along both dimension scores. Possible explanations for these results are discussed in the light of growing concerns over the spread of the epidemic in this region

Trust in science, homonegativity, and HIV stigma: experimental data from the United Kingdom and Germany.

HIV stigma and its corollary HIV fear constitute significant barriers to HIV prevention. This quasi-experimental study examined social psychological predictors of HIV stigma and HIV fear, respectively, based on data from 516 participants in the United Kingdom and Germany. Participants completed baseline measures of HIV knowledge, trust in science and scientists and homonegativity. They were then randomly assigned to one of three experimental conditions with vignettes describing (1) a gay man with HIV, (2) a heterosexual man with HIV, or (3) the control condition. Participants completed post-manipulation measures of HIV stigma and HIV fear. HIV knowledge and trust in science and scientists were negatively associated with HIV stigma and fear. Baseline homonegativity was positively correlated with HIV stigma and fear. Being exposed to a vignette describing a heterosexual man led to less HIV stigma than being exposed to a vignette describing a gay man and the control condition (in which no sexual orientation was explicitly mentioned). The results suggest that, in addition to promoting HIV knowledge and trust in science and scientists, public health messaging concerning HIV should shift from a focus on gay men to heterosexuals and that homonegativity (higher in men) must continue to be tackled

User centered ecological interface design (UCEID): A novel method applied to the problem of safe and user-friendly interaction between drivers and autonomous vehicles

© Springer International Publishing AG 2018. User Centered Ecological Interface Design (UCEID) is a novel Human Factors method that integrates relationships between Ecological Interface Design (EID) and inclusive Human Centered Design. It combines existing methodology from the Cognitive Work Analysis (CWA) framework [1–3] and Inclusive User Centered Design [4, 5]. This paper offers a practical guide to UCEID by providing a high-level summary for practitioners using the example of vehicle to driver handover in a BASt Level 3 autonomous vehicle

When climate science became climate politics: British media representations of climate change in 1988

Climate change has become a pressing environmental concern for scientists, social commentators and politicians. Previous social science research has explored media representations of climate change in various temporal and geographical contexts. Through the lens of Social Representations Theory, this article provides a detailed qualitative thematic analysis of media representations of climate change in the 1988 British broadsheet press, given that this year constitutes an important juncture in this transition of climate change from the domain of science to that of the socio-political sphere. The following themes are outlined: (i) “Climate change: a multi-faceted threat”; (ii) “Collectivisation of threat”; (iii) “Climate change and the attribution of blame”; and (iv) “Speculative solutions to a complex socio-environmental problem.” The article provides detailed empirical insights into the “starting-point” for present-day disputes concerning climate change and lays the theoretical foundations for tracking the continuities and discontinuities characterising social representations of climate change in the future