How Scientific Discourses Affect Risk Perception: Evidence from Japan

• In Event: Poster Session: Science, Technology, and Environmental Policy 1 & Comparative Health Policy
  In Poster Session: Poster Session 1: Science, Technology, and Environmental Policy

Abstract

How do scientific discourses affect individuals' attitudes toward and concerns about policies that involve health and environmental risks? We explore this research question by focusing on risk perceptions of nuclear power among Japanese residents. Radiation and nuclear risks have been a major issue in Japan since the disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi Power Station in 2011, and the issue became particularly salient in 2023, when the Japanese government and Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) began releasing treated water stored at the power station into the ocean. We conducted a survey experiment with individuals living in Japan (n = 2,315), where random subsets of participants were asked to read short vignettes describing either the safety or the hazardousness of the treated water release to human health and the environment. Analyses of the experimental data reveal that the vignette emphasizing the hazardousness of the treated water release increased the opposition to and concern about the policy. On the other hand, the vignette emphasizing the safety of the treated water release did not affect respondents’ attitudes toward the policy, while it increased the concerns about the health and environmental risks of the policy. These findings carry theoretical as well as practical implications, suggesting the need for different approaches to garnering support for and reducing concerns about policies that pose health and environmental risks.

Author

• Ikuma Ogura, Hitotsubashi University