Confluence and Contours: Reflexive Management of Environmental Risk

Government agencies have responsibility for distributing risk management funds meaningfully, and to be accountable for their choices. Successful policies require public commitment, yet research has not explored lay views of funding allocation, or lay responses to expert information used by policy makers. We used a sociological approach to understand the role of government in managing a portfolio of environmental risks, and insights from psychology to examine individual-level risk perception. Survey data from 2179 UK citizens showed that lay people's beliefs about funding preferences were associated positively with agentic responsibility and trust. However, associations between funding preferences and perception varied depending on risk type. Moreover, there were risk-specific differences in the funding preferences of the citizen sample and a sample of 29 policy makers. A lab study of 109 participants examined funding allocation in more detail through iterative presentation of expert information, and drawi...