Professor Jake Ansell

Inaugural lecture of Professor Jake Ansell, 8 February 2011.

Event details

Lecture title: "Myth and Risk"

Date: 8 February 2011, 5.15pm

Venue: Lecture Theatre 5, Appleton Tower, Crichton Street, Edinburgh

Lecture abstract

Risk is intangible with only its symptoms observable. There is, therefore, the possibility of creating myths about risk.

A myth is a story, usually of unknown origin and at least partly traditional, which relates historical events in such a way as to explain some practice, belief, institution or natural phenomenon. Myths provide a means of sharing experiences that can be used by recipients as an input to decision-making processes.

Problems arise when the contextual basis of a myth is changed. There is a danger that information may be distorted by the loss of context or significant features during transmission. As a result, myths can help risk communication providing cautionary tales, but equally may hinder the receiver’s perception of reality. The latter can leads to realisation of the risk.

Risk and myths will be discussed with examples.

Lecture video