gms | German Medical Science

A myriad of behaviors and cognition can, at least partly, be understood by taking into account that people learn about the risks in the world through two different learning modes: an experienced-based and an description-based mode. In this presentation, we summarize extant findings on how the two modes of learning each in their own way shape people's risk behavior and perception. For example, it is by now well established that people, who learn about a risk from symbolic descriptions (e.g., the written information on a drug's side effects as presented in package inserts) tend to make decisions as if small probability outcomes (e.g., a rare side effect) received more impact than they deserved based on their actual probability, whereas people, who learn about a risk from experience (e.g., by repeatedly administering the drug), tend to make decisions as if small probability outcomes received less impact than they deserved [1]. Thus, depending on how people learn about a risk, they will reach different appraisals of the risk and make different decisions, a phenomenon known today as the description-experience gap. In real-life settings, the two modes of learning often co-occur simultaneously, but sometimes only one of them exists. The extent to which both modes convey convergent or divergent information about risks has, as we will discuss, profound implications of how people perceive risks; for how they behave when facing risks, and, last but not least, also for what can be done to help people to better reckon with risks.

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

The authors declare that an ethics committee vote is not required.