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From Risk Information to SelfIdentity: The Paradigm Evolution of RISP Model
Psychology: Techniques and Application. 2016, 4 (7):
434-443.
DOI: 10.16842/j.cnki.issn2095-5588.2016.07.009
The purpose of the present article is to firstly offer a comprehensive analysis of the Risk Information Seeking and Processing (RISP) model by thoroughly examining its core ideology and the interplay among its major components. Secondly, the models emergence and ongoing development may also shed light on the reform and progress that have taken place in the risk information research area during the past few decades——audiences features (ie., personal characteristics, needs, motivation, etc.) are gaining more and more attention over that of the information content itself. Researchers from the fields of risk perception, risk communication, and decision making have long been interested in the mechanism of individuals information processing, especially under risky circumstances. Multiple theories and models have contributed in decoding this mechanism from both cognitive and behavioral perspectives. Enlightened by the widely accepted HeuristicSystematic Model (HSM) of information processing and Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), Griffin and his colleagues established the RISP model by drawing on relevant concepts from risk management and communication studies. The integrated model is the first attempt to bring individuals internal (cognitive) and external (behavioral) information processing activities together into the same picture for a complete view of the whole course of information processing. RISP model proposes that individuals information seeking and processing behaviors are lumped together and mediated by information sufficiency, relevant channel beliefs, and perceived information gatheringcapacity.Information sufficiency is, in turn, regulated by information subjective norms and affective response. The latter is mediated by perceived hazard characteristics,which is a function of a branch of variables labeled as “individual characteristics”. Specifically, individual characteristics comprise of the subcategories relevant hazard experience; political philosophy; and sociodemographics, including gender, ethnicity, age, and socioeconomic status. By putting forward this group of variables that outlines ones traits and backgrounds as the root source, Griffin and his colleagues initiated the attention shift of this line of research——focus more on audience characteristics instead of information content. In despite of its limitations, RISP model provides an insightful direction for future studies.In order to gain indepth understanding of the models dynamics, We briefly referred to the theories that RISP model was constructed upon; and mainly elaborated on the relationships between the models core components (i. e., individual characteristics, information sufficiency, and information seeking/processing behavior) and some wellestablished concepts (e. g., informational subjective norms, affective response, etc.) in the relevant study fields. While RISP model is receiving recognitions,several researchers have either extanded the model for a fuller view or raised some critiques or questions about the model. Primarily, 3 representative researchers, Kahlor, Braun and Niederdeppe, and their constructive work derived from RISP model were discussed in the paper. By looking into their studies along with tracing the evolutionary process of the model, we may attain a better understranding of how the research focus has been transformed from information content to audience in the areas of risk communication and information processing.Prevoius studies in risk communication and information processing paid major attention to calculating what to be included in the information content instead of getting to know by whom the information was expected to be received. Griffin and his colleagues built RISP model from a standpoint of highlighting the audiences, and thus set the keytone for later studies to incline toward an audience orientation. RISP model makes a further promotion at the basis of previous research through clarifying that information sufficiency and informational subjective norms indeed exert significant impact over individual behaviors during information processing. More importantly, RISP model makes it possible to inspect ones inner cognitive activities (information processing) and explicit behaviors (information seeking) in the same picture and make parallel analysis. Finally, according to the critiques and improvements a number of researchers have made upon RISP model, more intricate phenomena could be induced under the influence of such as intended information aversion due to defense of selfesteem and selfidentity disruption.
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