The criticality of risk generalization beliefs. An experimental study on communication about risk of bamboo tableware

The study focusses on risk related generalization beliefs, i.e., the belief that the risk of a specific agent can be generalized across various conditions. These conditions are: G1: across the frequency of usage (from often to rare); G2: across exposure modalities (hot to cold); G3: across exposure routes (oral to dermal), and G4: across detrimental outcomes (specific detrimental endpoint to various detrimental endpoints). We examined how different risk descriptions impact those generalization beliefs using the risks of bamboo tableware for consumers as an example. The research followed a 2x2 between-subjects design with repeated measurements, and the test subjects were non-experts. The first factor, disclosure format, refers to the disclosure (yes/no) of risk generalization limitation. Half of the study participants were informed that bamboo tableware only poses a health risk if it is frequently used for hot beverages or foods. In contrast, the other half received no information about the risk restrictions regarding bamboo tableware use. The second factor referred to the agent description, either described by a particular unfamiliar term (formaldehyde) or a generic, more familiar term (plastics). Furthermore, we tested whether subjects who were initially not informed about the limits of risk generalizations altered their risk generalization beliefs G1 - G4 when they were informed that only frequent hot food and beverage consumption in bamboo tableware causes risks. It was found that respondents' four risk generalization beliefs G1 - G4 were statistically significantly lower for those who were informed about the risk generalization limitations. Additionally, the generalization beliefs G1 - G3 of subjects who were initially not informed, but received the information about the restrictions later, were statistically significantly lower than their initial beliefs, except for generalization across endpoints (G4). We discussed the findings in terms of their implications for risk communication. •Whether intuitive risk perceptions tend to overgeneralize is still under-researched.•Four types of risk generalizations were researched (across frequency of usage, temperature, exposure pathways, endpoints).•Our results showed that non-experts tend to make overgeneralizations if unaware of generalization limitations.•Overgeneralizations can be corrected by providing specific information about the conditions under which a risk exists.•Only generalization across detrimental