Responses to threat information have important consequences for individuals and for society. Accident rates, health costs, insurance rates, workmen's compensation costs, and other societal indicators are influenced by the preventive actions of individuals. Thus it is critically important to understand how people respond to information about a potential threat. Little is known about individual differences in assessing personal risk when given information about a threat. This grant will test the Threat Orientation model of responses to threat which proposes three basic individual orientations to threat. People use either a control-based response which involves identifying the personal relevance and controllability of the risk and taking actions to reduce the risk; a denial-based response which involves denying personal risk and not taking preventive actions; or a heightened sensitivity-based response which involves acute sensitivity to vulnerability and risk and an overestimation of personal risk.
Previous research has developed a questionnaire to measure an individual's threat orientation. The studies in this grant will further establish the validity of the scale using a national random sample and will examine how an individual's threat orientation affects processing of information about a potential threat and whether protective action is taken. One study focuses on those with a denial-based orientation and tests several ways to reduce denial so information about threat is attended to. Another study targets those with a heightened sensitivity orientation to understand how anxiety can lead to an inappropriate response to threat. Finally, the information gathered from the studies will be used to develop and test the effectiveness of several public service messages about specific threats such as identity theft or overexposure to the sun. This research will further the development of sound science-based theory about responses to threat and will provide information to form the basis for effective interventions and messages about potential threats.
