Knowing Much While Knowing Nothing: Perceptions and Misperceptions about Nanomaterials

Abstract

Nanomaterials are not technological newcomers. However the use of an integrative concept to describe the diverse and complex array of these very small products is new. This chapter aims to describe some of the attitudes and risk perception studies about these materials. Furthermore it will be presented an empirical research where we will introduce some of the psychological factors that could help in understanding the psychometrics of the nanomaterials risk perception. One could conclude that despite the agreement that there is a widespread lack of knowledge, people can still apply attitudes and deduce a risk perception estimate that differs essentially according to the application domains. Furthermore risk perception about nanomaterials can be easily modified if some new negative phenomena arrive. In this context the design of a good risk communication strategy is particularly important especially because according to many studies and the one to be presented, the nano experts have difficulty