Framing flood risks: Using images to communicate flood risks to the public

TL;DRAbstract

Risk communication is often studied through the formation of risk perceptions and empirical findings.This article explores the possibility of a theoretical basis for how risk communication relates to the audience, especially with respect to a growing interest in communicating with images.Framing is taken as a perspective on risk communication.The construal level theory is used to describe how congruence between an individual's construal of a risk event and a frame affects the strength of the frame's effects.The framework is developed from a literature review, and the implications for risk communication are illustrated through a concurrent study on the framing of flood risks.An implication of the framework is that information providers should pay greater attention to the risk perception of the audience when communicating to the public.Further research includes empirical testing of the relations proposed in the framework, and deriving more concrete determinants of a construal.

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