LSAT 101, Section 1, RC Passage 1, Risk Communication

RC Passage 1 Explanation

Paragraph Summaries

1. “Risk communication” is often seen as brainwashing, because many risk communicators engage in brainwashing.
2. People can make pretty good risk-management decisions, when they are well informed.
3. People react differently to risk information depending on what they already know about risks.

Analysis

This passage is easier to understand once you realize that the first paragraph is not the main point. The author introduces that information to dispel a myth that all risk communicators brainwash people.

Once that’s out of the way, the author gets to their real point. To be successful at risk communication, you must understand how the public perceives risk.

People are generally pretty good at understanding risk, if they have the facts. There will be ethical considerations that make people perceive certain risks differently.

The last paragraph takes this information and uses it to make recommendations for risk communicators. People seem to react different to the same information based on what they know about a technology.

Risk communication will be easier if people are given neutral information that helps them decide how risky a technology is.