To many developers of technologies that affect public health or the en

Question

To many developers of technologies that affect
public health or the environment, “risk
communication” means persuading the public that the
potential risks of such technologies are small and
 (5)  should be ignored. Those who communicate risks in
this way seem to believe that lay people do not
understand the actual nature of technological risk, and
they can cite studies asserting that, although people
apparently ignore mundane hazards that pose
 (10)  significant danger, they get upset about exotic hazards
that pose little chance of death or injury. Because some
risk communicators take this persuasive stance, many
lay people see “risk communication” as a euphemism
for brainwashing done by experts.

(15)  Since, however, the goal of risk communication
should be to enable people to make informed decisions
about technological risks, a clear understanding about
how the public perceives risk is needed. Lay people’s
definitions of “risk” are more likely to reflect
 (20)  subjective ethical concerns than are experts’
definitions. Lay people, for example, tend to perceive a
small risk to children as more significant than a larger
risk to consenting adults who benefit from the risk-
creating technology. However, if asked to rank hazards
 (25)  by the number of annual fatalities, without reference
to ethical judgments, lay people provide quite reasonable
estimates, demonstrating that they have substantial
knowledge about many risks. Although some studies
claim to demonstrate that lay people have inappropriate
 (30)  concerns about exotic hazards, these studies often
use questionable methods, such as asking lay people to
rank risks that are hard to compare. In contrast, a recent
study showed that when lay people were given the
necessary facts and time, they understood the specific
 (35)  risks of electromagnetic fields produced by high
voltage power transmission well enough to make
informed decisions.

Risk communication should therefore be based on
the principle that people process new information in
 (40)  the context of their existing beliefs. If people know
nothing about a topic, they will find messages about
that topic incomprehensible. If they have erroneous
beliefs, they are likely to misconstrue the messages.
Thus, communicators need to know the nature and
 (45)  extent of recipients’ knowledge and beliefs in order to
design messages that will not be dismissed or
misinterpreted. This need was demonstrated in a
research project concerning the public’s level of
knowledge about risks posed by the presence of radon
 (50)  in the home. Researchers used open-ended interviews
and questionnaires to determine what information
should be included in their brochure on radon. Subjects
who read the researchers’ brochure performed
significantly better in understanding radon risks than
 (55)  did a control group who read a brochure that was
written using a different approach by a government
agency. Thus, careful preparation can help risk
communicators to produce balanced material that tells
people what they need to know to make decisions
 (60)  about technological risks.    1 
 1. Which one of the following best expresses the main point of the passage?

(A) Risk communicators are effectively addressing the proliferation of complex technologies that have increasing impact on public health and safety.
(B) Risk communicators should assess lay people’s understanding of technologies in order to be able to give them the information they need to make reasonable decisions.
(C) Experts who want to communicate to the public about the possible risks of complex technologies must simplify their message to ensure that it is understandable.
(D) Risk communication can be perceived as the task of persuading lay people to accept the impact of a particular technology on their lives.
(E) Lay people can be unduly influenced by subjective concerns when making decisions about technological risks.

2 
 2. The authors of the passage would be most likely to agree that the primary purpose of risk communication should be to

(A) explain rather than to persuade
(B) promote rather than to justify
(C) influence experts rather than to influence lay people
(D) allay people’s fears about mundane hazards rather than about exotic hazards
(E) foster public acceptance of new technologies rather than to acknowledge people’s ethical concerns

3 
 3. According to the passage, it is probable that which one of the following will occur when risk communicators attempt to communicate with lay people who have mistaken ideas about a particular technology?

(A) The lay people, perceiving that the risk communicators have provided more-reliable information, will discard their mistaken notions.
(B) The lay people will only partially revise their ideas on the basis of the new information.
(C) The lay people, fitting the new information into their existing framework, will interpret the communication differently than the risk communicators had intended.
(D) The lay people, misunderstanding the new information, will further distort the information when they communicate it to other lay people.
(E) The lay people will ignore any communication about a technology they consider potentially dangerous.

4 
 4. Which one of the following is most clearly an example of the kind of risk perception discussed in the “studies” mentioned in line 8?

(A) A skydiver checks the lines on her parachute several times before a jump because tangled lines often keep the parachutes from opening properly.
(B) A person decides to quit smoking in order to lessen the probability of lung damage to himself and his family.
(C) A homemaker who decides to have her house tested for radon also decides not to allow anyone to smoke in her house.
(D) A person who often weaves in and out of traffic while driving his car at excessive speeds worries about meteorites hitting his house.
(E) A group of townspeople opposes the building of a nuclear waste dump outside their town and proposes that the dump be placed in another town.

5 
 5. It can be inferred that the authors of the passage would be more likely than would the risk communicators discussed in the first paragraph to emphasis which one of the following?

(A) lay people’s tendency to become alarmed about technologies that they find new or strange
(B) lay people’s tendency to compare risks that experts would not consider comparable
(C) the need for lay people to adopt scientists’ advice about technological risk
(D) the inability of lay people to rank hazards by the number of fatalities caused annually
(E) the impact of lay people’s value systems on their perceptions of risk

6 
 6. According to the passage, many lay people believe which one of the following about risk communication?

(A) It focuses excessively on mundane hazards.
(B) It is a tool used to manipulate the public.
(C) It is a major cause of inaccuracies in public knowledge about science.
(D) It most often functions to help people make informal decisions.
(E) Its level of effectiveness depends on the level of knowledge its audience already has.

bM22 · Answer

5. It can be inferred that the authors of the passage would be more likely than would the risk communicators discussed in the first paragraph to emphasis which one of the following?

(A) lay people’s tendency to become alarmed about technologies that they find new or strange
(B) lay people’s tendency to compare risks that experts would not consider comparable
(C) the need for lay people to adopt scientists’ advice about technological risk
(D) the inability of lay people to rank hazards by the number of fatalities caused annually
 (E) the impact of lay people’s value systems on their perceptions of risk
 
 Correct Answer : E,
 Explanation : as mentioned in the passage: "Since, however, the goal of risk communication should be to enable people to make informed decisions about technological risks, a clear understanding about how the public perceives risk is needed.". These lines imply that authors of the passage would more likely emphasize on how people perceive risk.

Now coming to the difference between Option A and E : E can be directly inferred from the passage, A is not mentioned in the passage, neither by the author nor by the risk communicator. What risk communicators believe according to the passage is: that lay people do not understand the actual nature of technological risk, and they can cite studies asserting that, although people apparently ignore mundane hazards that pose significant danger, they get upset about exotic hazards that pose little chance of death or injury, Which is what the author counters in the start of the 2nd paragraph by mentioning what should be the goal of risk communication and how people should view risk.
What is mentioned regarding A is : " If people know nothing about a topic, they will find messages about that topic incomprehensible.", alarmed is a strong word to use. Through a study in the passage, we can infer that when lay people were given time and proper resources, they understood the specific risks of electromagnetic fields produced by high voltage power transmission well enough to make informed decisions, implying that author wouldn't emphasize on A.

With Regards to your next question: How is the usage of value system justified in Option E? - Could you kindly rephrase, it. I did not understand what did you wanted to ask.

Hope this Helps.
Thanks.

bM22 · Answer

4. Which one of the following is most clearly an example of the kind of risk perception discussed in the “studies” mentioned in line 8?

(A) A skydiver checks the lines on her parachute several times before a jump because tangled lines often keep the parachutes from opening properly.
(B) A person decides to quit smoking in order to lessen the probability of lung damage to himself and his family.
(C) A homemaker who decides to have her house tested for radon also decides not to allow anyone to smoke in her house.
(D) A person who often weaves in and out of traffic while driving his car at excessive speeds worries about meteorites hitting his house.
(E) A group of townspeople opposes the building of a nuclear waste dump outside their town and proposes that the dump be placed in another town.

Correct Answer: D
Explanation: What Line 8 implies is that lay people tend to ignore mundane and real world risks, and worry about the risks that could actually never occur.
This above inference is best explained by Option D, where a person, doesn't worry about the reckless driving that could actually kill him, but worries about meteorites hitting his house, which might never happen.

For Question 5: Kindly refer: https://gmatclub.com/forum/to-many-deve ... l#p2560752

Hope this Helps.
Thanks.

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Explanation

6. According to the passage, many lay people believe which one of the following about risk communication?

Explanation

There are a few places where we find out what lay people think, but there’s only one place where we find out what some lay people think about risk communication, and that’s  Para 1 . Again, the answer to this Explicit Text question is virtually given on the page; all we have to do is a little translating. The relevant lines are 12-14:  “...many lay people see ‘risk communication’ as a euphemism for brainwashing done by experts.” (B)  says the same thing, only substituting  “manipulate the public”  for  “brainwashing.”

(A)  Some experts believe that lay people focus too heavily on exotic, not mundane hazards. Lay people themselves don’t express any view on this distinction in regard to their beliefs about risk communication.

(C)  In this passage, lay people don’t express any beliefs about the issue of accuracy in regard to risk communication. The only blame they seem to place on the practice is in relation to those who take the overly persuasive stance.

(D)  and  (E)  remind us more of the authors’ ideas than any notions we can attribute to lay people. The authors believe that risk communication should function to help people make informed decisions  (D) , but there is no indication that lay people feel that it does in fact accomplish this. The same goes for  (E) : The authors certainly seem to believe that the effectiveness of risk communication is impacted by the knowledge level of the public, but we have no way of knowing that the public itself feels this way.

Answer: B

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Explanation

4. Which one of the following is most clearly an example of the kind of risk perception discussed in the “studies” mentioned in line 8?

Difficulty Level:   600

Explanation

The studies mentioned in  line 8  are described fully in  lines 8-11.  While people pay little attention to  “mundane,”  that is, everyday hazards that are in fact dangerous, they worry too much about  “exotic”  dangers that in reality are not as dangerous as the everyday hazards. We need to look through the choices for the example that seems to match this type of risk perception. It’s doubtful that we can pre-phrase the exact examples that the correct choice will contain, but we can at least pre-phrase the kind of examples we’re looking for: We want people to be all uptight about something that’s interesting (exotic) yet fairly safe, and carefree about something routine yet dangerous. In general, then, we’re looking for a somewhat irrational perception of risks.

(A)  Nothing crazy about this: Skydiving is clearly exotic and dangerous, and it’s perfectly reasonable to double- and triple-check the mechanisms.

(B)  Smoking is surely dangerous, but it’s hard to tell whether smoking can be characterized as exotic or mundane (maybe it depends on what movies we watch). In any case, like the skydiver in (A), this person is making a rational decision based on a reasonable perception of risk, so this doesn’t accord well with the studies cited.

(C)  Cautious, maybe. But not crazy.

(D)  Here’s the loon we’re looking for: Swerving in and out of traffic at high speeds is a dangerous way to engage in an otherwise mundane activity, yet despite the real danger involved the driver seems fairly unconcerned. Maybe that’s because his psychic energy is spent on worrying about meteors hitting his house, an event that’s, well, very unlikely. This is certainly a strange, perhaps inverted perception of risk, and it matches the kind of mentality described in the study.

(E)  Ah, the old NIMBY defense— “Not In My BackYard.”  This attitude may not be very socially appropriate, but there’s nothing unusual about this perception of risk; it’s another reasonable concern about a real danger.

Answer: D

VerbalBot · Answer

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