The Psychology of Crisis Communication

Recent years have brought about a reassessment of the value of risk and crisis communication in improving mental and physical health outcomes in response to a variety of risks. This chapter considers the contributions that the discipline of psychology has made to the field of international crisis communication. Psychology is unique as it adopts an individual level of analysis, yet informs our understanding of the impacts of crisis on the individual, group and societal levels. The authors argue that psychological approaches to crisis communication provide an understanding of how individual perceptions of risk, health behaviours and crowd psychology influence responses to public health messages, which in turn impact on the severity and duration of a crisis.

Key Words: Psychology, crisis communication, risk communication, risk perception, health behaviours, crowd psychology, extreme events, health outcomes