In public policy

Public policy

Public policy as government action is generally the principled guide to action taken by the administrative or executive branches of the state with regard to a class of issues in a manner consistent with law and institutional customs. In general, the foundation is the pertinent national and...

, the outrage factor is the portion of public opposition to a policy which does not derive from knowledge of the technical details. While policy analysis

Policy analysis

Policy analysis is "determining which of various alternative policies will most achieve a given set of goals in light of the relations between the policies and the goals". However, policy analysis can be divided into two major fields. Analysis of policy is analytical and descriptive—i.e., it...

 by institutional stakeholder

Stakeholder analysis

Stakeholder analysis in conflict resolution, project management, and business administration, is the process of identifying the individuals or groups that are likely to affect or be affected by a proposed action, and sorting them according to their impact on the action and the impact the action...

s may focus on risk-benefit analysis

Risk-benefit analysis

Risk–benefit analysis is the comparison of the risk of a situation to its related benefits. Exposure to personal risk is recognized as a normal aspect of everyday life. We accept a certain level of risk in our lives as necessary to achieve certain benefits. In most of these risks we feel as though...

 and cost-benefit analysis

Cost-benefit analysis

Cost–benefit analysis , sometimes called benefit–cost analysis , is a systematic process for calculating and comparing benefits and costs of a project for two purposes: to determine if it is a sound investment , to see how it compares with alternate projects...

, popular risk perception

Risk perception

Risk perception is the subjective judgment that people make about the characteristics and severity of a risk. The phrase is most commonly used in reference to natural hazards and threats to the environment or health, such as nuclear power. Several theories have been proposed to explain why...

 is not informed by the same concerns, and so the successful implementation of a policy relying on public support and cooperation will need to address the outrage factor when informing the public about the policy.

Factors

The term "outrage factor" originates from Peter Sandman's 1993 book, Responding to community outrage: strategies for effective risk communication. He gives the formula:

Sandman enumerates several sources of outrage:
Voluntary vs. coerced:People may object to something compulsory which is less dangerous than something else that they do by choice, such as a dangerous sport.
Natural vs. industrial:A human-made source of risk provides someone to blame for the risk; household radon is less publicly feared than less carcinogenic artificial sources.
Familiar vs. exotic:
Memorable or not:Memorableness may derive from personal experience, news reports, fiction, or iconic images or symbols.
Dreaded or not:Disgust

Disgust

Disgust is a type of aversion that involves withdrawing from a person or object with strong expressions of revulsion whether real or pretended. It is one of the basic emotions and is typically associated with things that are regarded as unclean, inedible, infectious, gory or otherwise offensive...

 can exaggerate perceived risk
Chronic vs. catastrophic:people may worry more about continual leakage from a chemical plant than the risk of an explosion
Knowable or not:people take a worst-case approach to uncertainty

Uncertainty

Uncertainty is a term used in subtly different ways in a number of fields, including physics, philosophy, statistics, economics, finance, insurance, psychology, sociology, engineering, and information science...

Controlled by me vs. others:
Fair or not:
Morally relevant or not:
Can I trust you or not:
Is the process responsive or not:

Issues

The relevance of public outrage has been acknowledged in discussions of various policy debates, including nuclear safety

Nuclear safety

Nuclear safety covers the actions taken to prevent nuclear and radiation accidents or to limit their consequences. This covers nuclear power plants as well as all other nuclear facilities, the transportation of nuclear materials, and the use and storage of nuclear materials for medical, power,...

, terrorism

Terrorism

Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...

, public health

Public health

Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals" . It is concerned with threats to health based on population health...

, and environmental management

Environmental management

Environmental resource management is “a purposeful activity with the goal to maintain and improve the state of an environmental resource affected by human activities” . It is not, as the phrase suggests, the management of the environment as such, but rather the management of the interaction and...

.

Addressing outrage

The mass media

Mass media

Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...

 often frame policy debate by focusing on outrage factors. For proponents of a policy trying to address outrage, Sandman recommends acknowledging and empathising with the underlying sentiment.

See also

• Worry
  Worry
  Worry is thoughts, images and emotions of a negative nature in whichmental attempts are made to avoid anticipated potential threats. As an emotion it is experienced as anxiety or concern about a real or imagined issue, usually personal issues such as health or finances or broader ones such as...
  
  
• Risk perception
  Risk perception
  Risk perception is the subjective judgment that people make about the characteristics and severity of a risk. The phrase is most commonly used in reference to natural hazards and threats to the environment or health, such as nuclear power. Several theories have been proposed to explain why...
  
  
• Risk aversion
  Risk aversion
  Risk aversion is a concept in psychology, economics, and finance, based on the behavior of humans while exposed to uncertainty....
  
  
• Cultural Theory of risk
  Cultural Theory of risk
  The Cultural Theory of risk, often referred to simply as Cultural Theory , consists of a conceptual framework and an associated body of empirical studies that seek to explain societal conflict over risk...