Perceived danger can be influenced by how the emergency information is expressed

Abstract

Previous research has shown that local residents tend to underestimate approaching dangers and ignore emergency evacuation information issued by authorities. In the present study, three experiments were conducted to investigate whether perceived danger can be influenced by how the emergency evacuation information is expressed. Experiments 1a and 1b examined the effects of adding adverbs to emphasize the seriousness and the urgency of the emergency situation. The results showed that less common adverbs were more effective in stressing the need for immediate evacuation. Experiment 2 indicated that people are more likely to be convinced of the need for immediate evacuation if they are explicitly informed that the emergency level has been elevated. These results indicate the importance of carefully preparing emergency evacuation information in order to convey the impression that something unusual is currently developing.