Affect and emotion have been actively studied in psychology for more than a century, yet few studies have examined the role of affect in technological risk assessment. This research develops and tests a theory that portrays affect and cognitive worldviews as functionally similar, working in parallel to help experts and laypersons cope with complexity and uncertainty in the face of risk. Quantitative measures of affect will be developed and used in empirical studies of expert and lay judgments about technological risks. The theoretical and empirical insights obtained from this work should lead to a better appreciation of how laypersons and experts derive meaning from risk information and experience.
