Doctoral students Kim, Mello, and Shapiro receive Russell Ackoff Doctoral Fellowships from Wharton

Annenberg’s Hyun-Suk Kim, Susan Mello, and Dina Shapiro have received the Russell Ackoff Doctoral Student Fellowship Award for 2012 from the Wharton Risk Management and Decision Processes Center.  

 

The Fellowships provide funding for doctoral research on human decision making. The research fellowships are named in honor of an endowment provided to the Wharton School by the Anheuser-Busch Charitable Trust.  Russell Ackoff, Professor Emeritus of Management Science life's work was dedicated to furthering the understanding of human behavior in organizations.  It is in the spirit of continuing this legacy by supporting doctoral training that the fellowships have been named.

 

The fellowships provide financial support for the students to conduct specific research projects. In addition to supporting the cost of research, one of the goals of the Ackoff awards is to foster a sense of community among scholars at Penn involved in research on decision making. 

 

Each student’s research projects are:

 

“Social Diffusion of Health Risk Information: The Roles of Message Characteristics, Message Tailoring, and Social Influence.”

Abstract: Why and in what ways do certain kinds of health risk messages draw attention and go viral, while others do not? Identifying determinants of social diffusion of health risk information is crucial to our understanding of its effectiveness in increasing risk awareness and/or promoting healthy behaviors. Studies of diffusion (of news, ideas, products, innovations, behaviors, information, etc.) have identified attributes of diffusing items, their compatibility with individuals, and social influence (or social contagion; particularly between influentials and imitators) as key factors that drive social epidemics. However, no studies have tested whether and how these factors jointly shape diffusion. In an effort to fill this gap, the proposed research attempts to examine how (1) message characteristics, (2) message tailoring (i.e., compatibility between messages and individuals), and (3) social influence combine to drive the diffusion of health risk information in the Internet, by conducting a web-based experiment.

 

“Visual Communication and Public Consciousness of ‘Invisible’ Environmental Health Risks

 
Abstract: Historically, humans have been able to detect and avoid a majority of environmental hazards using the traditional five senses. The smell and appearance of rotting fruit, for example, naturally precludes consumption. But as modern industrial society advances, it continues to introduce environmental risks to health that are not so readily perceptible (Beck, 1992). Pesticide residue on fresh produce can only be seen under a microscope while toxic amounts of hexavalent chromium in drinking water can neither be seen nor tasted. Furthermore, sensory perception can also be unreliable in detecting modern hazards. For instance, individuals’ perceptions of air quality based on health cues (smell, respiratory problems) has been shown to be weakly correlated with official air pollution monitoring data (Johnson, 2012).

Past research on the visual communication of risk has tended to focus on enhancing quantitative reasoning and decision-making by manipulating graphical displays of risk information (e.g., risk ladders, histograms; Ancker, Senathirajah, Kukafka, & Starren, 2006; Lipkus & Hollands, 1999). While improving numeracy through the use of visuals has been an important part of decision-making research, there are many new and promising avenues of research in visual risk communication (Zinn, 2009). In particular, invisible health risks pose unique challenges to health communicators that have yet to be systematically addressed (Tomes, 1999). If humans fail to recognize the existence and dose of a proximal threat, the perceived likelihood and severity of the associated health risk are of little consequence to decision-making processes. This study will implement a web-based survey experiment to test the persuasive effects of visual media messages on public consciousness of ‘invisible’ environmental health risks and corresponding protective behaviors.

 

“Impact of Targeted HIV Messages on Anticipated Stigma Risk”

Abstract: Creators of public health messages face a tough challenge: individuals erroneously estimate their risk for disease as lower than that of their peers, optimistically believing that risks apply to others but are irrelevant for themselves. Researchers attempt to overcome this bias of unrealistic optimism through the use of targeting, thought to increase individuals’ perceptions that messages are personally relevant. However, evidence suggests that targeted groups do not necessarily view messages as relevant and instead often react defensively to targeted messages. Defensive reactions make individuals less likely to change their risk perceptions and less likely to uptake the recommended action response in the message. The goal of this study is to explore these unintended effects of targeted messages, and specifically to evaluate the role of anticipated stigma in meditating this relationship. To do so, this study will focus on HIV among African-Americans. This study will compare the impact of messages which target African Americans to those which focus on the general population on perceptions of risk and anticipated stigma associated with identification with the disease. In addition, this study will explore the mediating role of risk and stigma perceptions on intentions to engage in HIV screening.

 

 

This is the fourth consecutive year that Annenberg doctoral students have received Ackoff Fellowships. Ms. Shapiro was a recipient in 2011. In 2010 Annenberg doctoral students Cabral Bigman (Gr ’10) and Peter Busse (Gr ’11) were recipients of this honor. Shawnika Hull (Gr '10) won in 2009 and 2008.