ABSTRACT
This paper reviews the literature on risk communication to summarize the state of the field. A brief selective history of the subject reveals three competing models of risk communication that seem to strive toward a common goal of informed consent in a democratic system. The seven cardinal rule model strives toward an ideal type that relies heavily on values; while the mental models approach explicitly recognizes that people shape the information received based on their fundamental understanding of the risk; and the organizational behavior model suggests that organizational behavior is an important component of communicating risk. Several examples are briefly presented to highlight some aspects of risk communication. Finally, the paper begins to explore some of the challenges presented by climate change.
