Chapter 5: Risk Perception, Dilemmas, Psycho-logic, and Public Health: Applications to the COVID-19 Pandemic

Precise definitions are provided for social dilemmas, social policy dilemmas, and psycho-logic. The analyses focus on national samples of US adults with data collected when the public became aware of the seriousness of the COVID-19 problem. Data were collected with simultaneous replications and with procedures for reducing order effects. In addition, a logarithmic transformation of respondent estimates of the risk of death is presented. The procedure avoids eliminating the respondent from the data set. The role of psycho-logic in obtaining effective government policies for public health during pandemics is also discussed with a focus on COVID-19. The history of this project on risk perception, which began in 2009, is provided with results briefly described.