Refine
Has Fulltext
- no (4) (remove)
Document Type
- Article (3)
- Doctoral Thesis (1)
Language
- English (4)
Is part of the Bibliography
- yes (4)
Keywords
- Adaptation (1)
- Climate Change Adaptation (1)
- Communications/decision making (1)
- Crisis Communication (1)
- Emergency (1)
- Emergency response (1)
- Environmental Psychology (1)
- Extreme events (1)
- Field experiments (1)
- Klimawandelanpassung (1)
Institute
- Institut für Umweltwissenschaften und Geographie (4) (remove)
Recent policy changes highlight the need for citizens to take adaptive actions to reduce flood-related impacts. Here, we argue that these changes represent a wider behavioral turn in flood risk management (FRM). The behavioral turn is based on three fundamental assumptions: first, that the motivations of citizens to take adaptive actions can be well understood so that these motivations can be targeted in the practice of FRM; second, that private adaptive measures and actions are effective in reducing flood risk; and third, that individuals have the capacities to implement such measures. We assess the extent to which the assumptions can be supported by empirical evidence. We do this by engaging with three intellectual catchments. We turn to research by psychologists and other behavioral scientists which focus on the sociopsychological factors which influence individual motivations (Assumption 1). We engage with economists, engineers, and quantitative risk analysts who explore the extent to which individuals can reduce flood related impacts by quantifying the effectiveness and efficiency of household-level adaptive measures (Assumption 2). We converse with human geographers and sociologists who explore the types of capacities households require to adapt to and cope with threatening events (Assumption 3). We believe that an investigation of the behavioral turn is important because if the outlined assumptions do not hold, there is a risk of creating and strengthening inequalities in FRM. Therefore, we outline the current intellectual and empirical knowledge as well as future research needs. Generally, we argue that more collaboration across intellectual catchments is needed, that future research should be more theoretically grounded and become methodologically more rigorous and at the same time focus more explicitly on the normative underpinnings of the behavioral turn.
Let’s talk about flood risk
(2020)
Private flood protection measures can help reduce potential damage from flooding. Few intervention studies currently exist that systematically evaluate the effectiveness of risk communication methods. To address this gap, we evaluated a series of six workshops (N = 115) on private flood protection in flood-prone areas in Germany that covers different aspects of flood protection for individual households.
Applying mixed-model analysis, significant increases in self-efficacy, subjective knowledge, and protection motivation were observed. Younger participants, as well as participants who reported lower levels of previous knowledge or no flood experience, showed a higher increase in self-efficacy and knowledge. Results suggest that a workshop can be an effective risk communication tool, raising awareness and motivating behaviour among residents of flood-prone areas.
Heat waves are increasingly common in many countries across the globe, and also in Germany, where this study is set. Heat poses severe health risks, especially for vulnerable groups such as the elderly and children. This case study explores visitors' behavior and perceptions during six weekends in the summer of 2018 at a 6-month open-air horticultural show. Data from a face-to-face survey (n = 306) and behavioral observations ( n = 2750) were examined by using correlation analyses, ANOVA, and multiple regression analyses. Differences in weather perception, risk awareness, adaptive behavior, and activity level were observed between rainy days (maximum daily temperature, 25 degrees C), warmsummer days (25 degrees-30 degrees C), and hot days (>30 degrees C). Respondents reported a high level of heat risk awareness, butmost (90%) were unaware of actual heat warnings. During hot days, more adaptive measures were reported and observed. Older respondents reported taking the highest number of adaptive measures. We observed the highest level of adaptation in children, but they also showed the highest activity level. From our results we discuss how to facilitate individual adaptation to heat stress at open-air events by taking the heterogeneity of visitors into account. To mitigate negative health outcomes for citizens in the future, we argue for tailored risk communication aimed at vulnerable groups. <br /> SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT: People around the world are facing higher average temperatures. While higher temperatures make open-air events a popular leisure time activity in summer, heat waves are a threat to health and life. Since there is not much research on how visitors of such events perceive different weather conditions-especially hot temperatures-we explored this in our case study in southern Germany at an open-air horticultural show in the summer of 2018. We discovered deficits both in people's awareness of current heat risk and the heat adaptation they carry out themselves. Future research should further investigate risk perception and adaptation behavior of private individuals, whereas event organizers and authorities need to continually focus on risk communication and facilitate individual adaptation of their visitors.
Natural hazards pose a threat to human health and life. In Germany, where the research for this thesis was conducted, numerous weather extremes occurred in the recent past that caused high numbers of fatalities and huge financial losses. The focus of this research is centred around two relevant natural hazards: heat stress and flooding. Preventing negative health impacts and deaths, as well as structural and monetary damage is the purpose of risk management and this requires citizens to adapt as well. Risk communication is implemented to foster people’s risk perception and motivate individual adaptation. However, methods of risk and crisis communication are often not evaluated in a structured manner. Much interdisciplinary research exists on both risk perception and adaptation, however, not much is known on the connection between the two. Furthermore, the existing research on risk communication is often not theory-driven and its impact on individual adaptation and risk perception is not thoroughly documented. This dissertation follows three research aims: (1) Compare psychological theories that contribute to natural hazard research. (2) Explore risk perception and adaptive behaviour by applying multiple methods. And (3) evaluate one risk communication method and one crisis communication method in a theory-driven manner to determine their impact on risk perception and adaptive behaviour. First, a literature review is provided on existing psychological theories which aim to explain the behaviour of individuals with regards to natural hazards. The three key theories included are the Protection Motivation Theory (PMT), the Protective Action Decision Model (PADM), and the Risk Information Seeking and Processing Model (RISP). Each of these are described and compared to each other with a focus on their explanatory power and practical significance in interdisciplinary research. Theoretical adaptations and possible extensions for future research are proposed for the presented approaches. Second, a multimethod field study on heat stress at an open-air event is presented. Face-to-face surveys (n = 306) and behavioural observations (n = 2750) were carried out at a horticultural show in Würzburg in summer 2018. The visitors’ risk perception, adaptive behaviour, and activity level were analysed and compared between hot days, summer days, and rainy days, applying correlation analyses, ANOVA, and multiple regression analyses. Heat risk perception was generally high, but most respondents were unaware of heat warnings on the day of their visit. During hot days the highest level of adaptation and lower activity levels were observed. Discrepancies between reported and observed adaptation emerged for different age groups.. Third, a telephone and web-based household survey on heat stress was conducted in the cities of Würzburg, Potsdam, and Remscheid in 2019 (n = 1417). The PADM served as the study’s theoretical framework. In multiple regression analyses the PADM factors of environmental and demographic context, risk communication, and psychological processes explained a substantial share of variance of protection motivation, protective response, and emotion-focused coping. Elements of crisis communication of a heat warning were evaluated experimentally. Results showed that understanding and adaptation intention was significantly higher in individuals that had received action recommendations alongside the heat warning. Fourth, the focus is set on a risk communication method of the flood context. A series of workshops on individual flood protection was carried out in six different settings. The participants (n = 115) answered a pretest-posttest questionnaire. Mixed-model analyses revealed significant increases in self-efficacy, subjective knowledge, and protection motivation. Stronger effects were observed in younger participants and those with lower levels of previous knowledge on flood adaptation as well as no flood experience. The findings of this thesis help to understand individual adaptation, as well as possible impacts of risk and crisis communication on risk perception and adaptation. The scientific background of this work is rooted in the disciplines of psychology and geosciences. The two theories PMT and PADM proved to be useful theoretical frameworks for the presented studies to suggest improvements in risk communication methods. A broad picture of individual adaptation is captured through a variety of methods of self-reports (face-to-face, telephone-based, web-based, and paper-pencil surveys) and behavioural observations, which recorded past and intended behaviour. Alongside with further methodological recommendations, the theory-driven evaluations of risk and crisis communication methods can serve as best-practice examples for future evaluation studies in natural hazard research but also other sciences dealing with risk behaviour to identify and improve effective risk communication pathways.