Danièle Hermand

Perception of the Combined Effect of Smoking and Alcohol on Health

Because smoking is significantly associated with drinking, the consumption of alcohol can be associated with indirect consumption of tobacco (passive smoking), and alcohol and tobacco can have synergetic effects, the ways people perceive their combined effects were investigated. Information integration theory was applied, and the results showed that rather than representing the combined effects of tobacco consumption and alcohol consumption in a synergetic or summative way, the sample of 40 French adults apparently considered that indulging in only one of these two behaviors results almost unilaterally in maximal alteration of health. The two effects were seen to combine disjunctively, a way of perceiving the combined effects of the two substances that runs counter to current medical data on the subject.

Perception of the Combined Effects of Smoking and Alcohol on Cancer Risks in Never Smokers and Heavy Smokers

The issue addressed in the study is: How do people perceive the combined effect of alcohol consumption and tobacco consumption on risks of cancer? The method used was an application of Information Integration Theory. Sixty-four participants of both sexes were asked to estimate the risk of cancer associated with a number of situations described by a tobacco-consumption level associated with an alcohol-consumption level. Participants were subsequently presented with a questionnaire concerning the way alcohol and tobacco consumption can cause cancer. Results showed that French adults apparently considered that indulging in only one of these two behaviours represents a maximum health risk. The two effects were seen to combine disjunctively which runs counter to current medical data. However, there was total contradiction between the participants’ answers to the questionnaire concerning their knowledge and the information integration task.

Probability, value, and … suspense

Abstract The study was focused on suspense and the relationships that it may have with the traditional elements of a gambling situation. The framework was Information Integration Theory. Two experiments were undertaken: an exploratory experiment in which subjects were not placed in an actual gambling situation and a second experiment which did involve actual gambling conditions. In Experiment 1, the rule which, at group level, accounted best for the integration of information on value and probability was a rule where suspense depends primaryly on the probabilities and reaches its maximum when probability is 0.50. However, at individual level findings were considerably different. Overall, about half the subjects apparently equated suspense with attractiveness, expected value, probability or value. The other half apparently acted on the basis that the most suspenseful situations were those where the quantity of information transmitted by the occurrence of one of the two outcomes is maximal (case where probability is 10%), or when the average quantity of information transmitted by the system formed by the two outcomes is maximal (cases where probability is 50%) The results of Experiment 2 essentially confirmed those of Experiment 1.

Contribution du paradigme psychométrique à l'étude de la perception des risques: une revue de littérature de 1978 à 2005

Cette revue de litterature rend compte des apports du paradigme psychometrique a l’etude de la perception des risques. En le positionnant par rapport aux paradigmes cognitif et de l’utilite esperee, ce travail commence par preciser que le paradigme psychometrique concoit le risque comme un construct subjectivement defini et socialement determine. Cet article evoque ensuite quatre types de recherches psychometriques: (a) les etudes americaines princeps a l’origine de la mise en place du paradigme psychometrique; (b) les etudes internationales comparatives qui ont permis de montrer l’efficacite du paradigme psychometrique a l’echelle internationale pour caracteriser et structurer le risque percu; (c) les etudes qui ont permis le developpement du paradigme psychometrique via l’examen de nouveaux risques, de nouvelles caracteristiques et de nouvelles structurations factorielles; (d) les etudes qui ont identifie les determinants proximaux a l’origine des perceptions des risques. Pour terminer, les apports et les limites du paradigme psychometrique a l’etude du risque sont discutes.

The relationship between intent, consequences, the dangerousness of the victim, and blame: The case of self-defense

Abstract The way in which, in the special case of self-defense, intent to harm, consequences of the negative act and information regarding the dangerousness of the victim were integrated in a judgment of blame was studied. The sample consisted of men on the street, and also of two sub-populations directly concerned with the special issue of self-defense: police officers and prisoners. Overall, the way in which information was integrated appeared to conform to the proposed model: Blame = f [(Intent + Consequences) × Dangerousness]. The strength of the main effects and of the interactions were, however, extremely variable from one participant to another. A noticeable effect of dangerousness was observed in only onethird of the men on the street and the prisoners, and in only one police officer out of 19.