Influence of trust on two different risk perceptions as an affective and cognitive dimension during Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) outbreak in South Korea: serial cross-sectional surveys

Jang, Won Mo; Kim, Un-Na; Jang, Deok Hyun; Jung, Hyemin; Cho, Sanghyun; Eun, Sang Jun; Lee, Jin Yong

Most people may not conduct deliberate risk analysis when they cope with lack of knowledge about risk, such as new disease outbreak, but rely on simple heuristics. 18 19 Heuristic processing can be understood as simple decision rule of thumb or mental shortcut that can reduce the complexity of decision making. When risk management decisions are needed, trust in the institutions can be used as one of the heuristics. 20 People having trust in the responsible risk manager, such as the government, may perceive less risk in a particular issue than people not having trust. 21 22 Regarding the MERS epidemic in South Korea, less trust in the government affected increasing of individuals` risk perception. [23] [24] [25] Trust is known to be related not only to cognitive risk perception but also to affective risk perception. 26 27 However, when assessing the influence of trust in risk perception, many studies have not distinguished between affective and cognitive reaction regarding contagious diseases during outbreaks. 3 12 23 24 28-30 We hypothesized that (1) affective risk perception would increase and decrease faster than cognitive risk perception over time and that (2) low trust in government would be related with high risk perception (both affective and cognitive).