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Helping People Memorize Consequences of Risky Behaviors

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Transparent Communication of Health Risks

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Abstract

In this chapter, we investigated whether presenting consequences of health-related behaviors in terms of life expectancy, rather than risk of disease, improves recall and, if yes, through which underlying mechanisms. We also investigated whether these effects hold for both low- and high-numeracy people and in two countries with different cultural environments and medical systems. The study was conducted within a computerized survey on probabilistic national samples in the USA and Germany. Results showed that recall was better when consequences of health-related behaviors were presented in terms of changes in life expectancy than when they were presented in terms of risks of a disease both after 10 min and after 3 weeks. This was so for participants of both high and low numeracy and in both countries. The improved recall seems to be due to better imaginability of changes in life expectancy. When communicating with patients about medical risks, we recommend using concepts that they can readily relate to their own everyday experiences.

In this chapter, we partially reproduced the article Galesic, M., & Garcia-Retamero, R. (2011). Communicating consequences of risky behaviors: Life expectancy versus risk of disease. Patient Education and Counseling, 82, 30−35.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Adaptive Behavior and Cognition, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Lentzeallee 94, Berlin, 14195, Germany

    Mirta Galesic Ph.D. & Rocio Garcia-Retamero Ph.D.

  2. Departamento de Psicología Experimental, Facultad de Psicología, University of Granada, Campus Universitario de Cartuja s/n, Granada, 18071, Spain

    Rocio Garcia-Retamero Ph.D.

Authors
  1. Mirta Galesic Ph.D.
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  2. Rocio Garcia-Retamero Ph.D.
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mirta Galesic Ph.D. .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Campus Universitario de Cartuja, Departmento de Psicologia Experimental, Universidad de Granada, Granada, 18071, Spain

    Rocio Garcia-Retamero

  2. , Ctr for Adaptive Behavior and Cognition, Max Planck Institute for Human Dev., Lentzeallee 94, Berlin, 14195, Germany

    Mirta Galesic

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Galesic, M., Garcia-Retamero, R. (2012). Helping People Memorize Consequences of Risky Behaviors. In: Garcia-Retamero, R., Galesic, M. (eds) Transparent Communication of Health Risks. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-4358-2_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-4358-2_8

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-4357-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-4358-2

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