Abstract
The purpose of this study is to investigate the extent of influences of various factors on the public acceptance of nanotechnology products. In the existing studies that employ “affect heuristic model”, the acceptance of new technologies including nanotechnology is assumed to be determined by risk perception, benefit perception and affect. In order to clarify the factors determining the public acceptance of nanotechnology products, we modify the affect heuristic model by adding factors such as social trust, previous knowledge and values, and then, apply it to the data collected from our internet survey (N=647). Path analysis is utilized to test the model. The results of our study suggest that the affect heuristic model is basically applicable in explaining the acceptance. Social trust and previous knowledge are also found to play important roles in determining the acceptance of nanotechnology products.
