Create a relationship in communication Sample Clauses

Create a relationship in communication. There is at least one area in which the application of IR often is well-received in principle by people. This is the use of IR in medicine: screening, diagnosis, and treatment. The positive reception of an IR application by the public might be considered a success story, or as a model situation to be studied in view of improving other information and communication contexts. However, we must remember that exposure to IR through e.g. diagnostic imaging in particular, also constitutes a health risk factor in itself (and sometimes, unnecessary exposures are taking place in Europe and elsewhere). We must reflect on both sides of the story of public acceptance of medical exposures to IR. In this section, we briefly analyze the features of the medical situation that influence public perceptions of IR risk, consider whether these features can be found or transferred to other contexts of IR application, and identify certain dimensions that have particular significance for public information and communication. The example of medical applications of IR calls particular attention to risk/benefit perceptions, and to the relationships formed between the actors in this context. Good and bad practices are highlighted. It can be concluded that some relational aspects of the medical example can be reasonably and legitimately transferred to other contexts. Research shows that people’s perception of risk is always influenced by several characteristics of the situation including e.g.: voluntary vs. involuntary exposure to danger; benefit vs. harm; controllability vs. uncontrollability; familiarity vs. unfamiliarity, etc. Medical applications of IR clearly fall on the positive end of all these polarities. As a result people may therefore assess risk levels as low or tolerable. Moreover, research shows that people’s perception of risk is influenced by e.g. their personal propensity to trust the managers of the risk, and by the actual demonstrated trustworthiness of those managers. Perceptions are shaped also by the credibility of the managers: do risk managers appear to possess necessary knowledge, do they appear to apply it wisely? Doctors often are positively perceived on these dimensions. (That is a common finding in survey research – people rate medical practitioners as the most trustworthy and credible informants about risk.) In the presence of trusted, credible risk handling, the risk is perceived as lesser. Finally, when people undergo medical diagnosis and treatment they...