Abstract
The present study sought to understand how the genetic component of a disease affects individual's risk perceptions. Specifically, participants read three scenarios that asked them to imagine that they had either genetic, ambiguous, of no family history for a hypothetical disease and to imagine that their parents' lifestyles were either healthy or unhealthy. As expected, when participants received an ambiguous family history (rather than a genetic history or no family history), they rated a healthy diet and exercise as more effective at preventing the disease when their parents lifestyles were discribed as unhealthy rather than healthy (
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
