Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Communicating Information About Preventive Medical Treatments and Screenings

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Transparent Communication of Health Risks

  • 929 Accesses

Abstract

Analogies are often used to explain health-related concepts in medical practice, but it is unclear whether they actually improve understanding and if so, why. Here, we studied these issues in experiments on probabilistic national samples in two countries, focusing on two questions. First, we investigated whether analogies are helpful in communicating medical information to people with different levels of numeracy and for tasks of different levels of difficulty. Second, following existing theories of analogies, we studied what characteristics of analogies improve their helpfulness. Our results revealed that for difficult medical problems, analogies were helpful to high-numeracy people but less so to low-numeracy people. For easy medical problems, the results were reversed. Different analogies were successful in different cultural contexts. Our results are in accord with our theoretical expectations and have practical implications for the design and use of analogies to communicate health-related information.

In this chapter, we partially reproduced the article Galesic, M., & Garcia-Retamero, R. (2012). Using analogies to communicate information about health risks. Applied Cognitive Psychology. doi: 10.1002/acp.2866

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    Appendix is available at https://sites.google.com/site/mirtagalesic/home/Galesic_GarciaRetamero_Analogies_Appendix.pdf

  2. 2.

    Appendix is available at https://sites.google.com/site/mirtagalesic/home/Galesic_GarciaRetamero_Analogies_Appendix.pdf

  3. 3.

    Appendix is available at https://sites.google.com/site/mirtagalesic/home/Galesic_GarciaRetamero_Analogies_Appendix.pdf

  4. 4.

    Appendix is available at https://sites.google.com/site/mirtagalesic/home/Galesic_GarciaRetamero_Analogies_Appendix.pdf

  5. 5.

    Appendix is available at https://sites.google.com/site/mirtagalesic/home/Galesic_GarciaRetamero_Analogies_Appendix.pdf

References

  • Ancker, J. S., & Kaufman, D. (2007). Rethinking health numeracy: A multidisciplinary literature review. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 14, 713–721.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ancker, J. S., Senathirajah, Y., Kukafka, R., & Starren, J. B. (2006). Design features of graphs in health risk communication: A systematic review. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 13, 608–618.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Aristotle (350 B.C.E.). Rhetoric (book 3, chapter 10). (W. R. Roberts, Trans.). http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/rhetoric.3.iii.html, accessed July 30, 2012.

  • Boyle, F., Robinson, E., Heinrich, P., & Dunn, S. (2004). Cancer: Communicating in the team game. ANZ Journal of Surgery, 74, 477–481.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Chapman, K., Abraham, C., Jenkins, V., & Fallowfield, L. (2003). Lay understanding of terms used in cancer consultations. Psycho-Oncology, 12, 557–566.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cleary, P. D., Angel, R. (1984). The analysis of relationships involving dichotomous dependent-variables. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 25, 334–348.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (2008). The level of highest qualification held by adults: England 2007 (rev.). London, UK: Author. http://www.education.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000798/dsfr05-2008.pdf, accessed July 30, 2012.

  • Edwards, A. (2003). Communicating risks through analogies. British Medical Journal, 327, 749.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Edwards, A., Elwyn, G., & Mulley, A. (2002). Explaining risks: Turning numerical data into meaningful pictures. British Medical Journal, 324, 827–830.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Edwards, A., Thomas, R., Williams, R., Ellner, A. L., Brown, P., & Elwyn, G. (2006). Presenting risk information to people with diabetes: Evaluating effects and preferences for different formats by a web-based randomised controlled trial. Patient Education and Counselling, 63, 336–349.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fagerlin, A., Ubel, P. A., Smith, D. M., & Zikmund-Fisher, B. J. (2007). Making numbers matter: Present and future research in risk communication. American Journal of Health Behavior, 31, 47–56.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fagerlin, A., Wang, C., & Ubel, P. A. (2005). Reducing the influence of anecdotal reasoning on people’s health care decisions: Is a picture worth a thousand statistics? Medical Decision Making, 25, 398–405.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fuller, R., Dudley, N., & Blacktop, J. (2002). How informed is consent? Understanding of pictorial and verbal probability information by medical inpatients. Postgraduate Medical Journal, 78, 543–544.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Galesic, M., Garcia-Retamero, R., & Gigerenzer, G. (2009a). Using icon arrays to communicate medical risks: Overcoming low numeracy. Health Psychology, 28, 210–216.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Galesic, M., Gigerenzer, G., & Straubinger, N. (2009b). Natural frequencies facilitate accurate judgments about medical screenings for elderly and people with lower numeracy skills. Medical Decision Making, 29, 368–371.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Garcia-Retamero, R., & Galesic, M. (2011). Using plausible group sizes to communicate information about medical risks. Patient Education and Counseling, 84, 245–250.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Garcia-Retamero, R., Galesic, M., & Gigerenzer, G. (2010). Do icon arrays help reduce denominator neglect? Medical Decision Making, 30, 672–684.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Garcia-Retamero, R., Galesic, M., & Gigerenzer, G. (2011). Enhancing understanding and recall of quantitative information about medical risks: A cross-cultural comparison between Germany and Spain. Spanish Journal of Psychology, 14, 213–221.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gentner, D. (1983). Structure-mapping: A theoretical framework for analogy. Cognitive Science, 7, 155–170.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gigerenzer, G., & Edwards, A. (2003). Simple tools for understanding risks: From innumeracy to insight. British Medical Journal, 327, 741–744.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gigerenzer, G., Gaissmaier, W., Kurz-Milcke, E., Schwartz, L. M., & Woloshin, S. (2007). Helping doctors and patients make sense of health statistics. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 8, 53–96.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gigerenzer, G., & Gray, J. A. M. (2011). Launching the century of the patient. In G. Gigerenzer & J. A. Muir Gray (Eds.), Better doctors, better patients, better decisions: Envisioning health care in 2020. Strüngemann Forum Report (pp. 3–28). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gigerenzer, G., & Hoffrage, U. (1995). How to improve Bayesian reasoning without instruction: Frequency formats. Psychological Review, 102, 684–704.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Halpern, D. F., Hansen, C., & Riefer, D. (1990). Analogies as an aid to understanding and memory. Journal of Educational Psychology, 82, 298–305.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holyoak, K., Gentner, D., & Kokinov, B. (2001). The place of analogy in cognition. In K. Holyoak, D. Gentner, & B. Kokinov (Eds.), The analogical mind: Perspectives from cognitive science (pp. 1–19). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Honeck, R. P. (1973). Interpretive versus structural effects on semantic memory. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 12, 448–455.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hummel, J. E., & Holyoak, K. J. (1997). Distributed representations of structure: A theory of analogical access and mapping. Psychological Bulletin, 104, 427–466.

    Google Scholar 

  • Krieger, J. L., Parrot, R. L., & Nussbaum, J. F. (2011). Metaphor use and health literacy: A pilot study of strategies to explain randomization in cancer clinical trials. Journal of Health Communication, 16, 3–16.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lakoff, G. (1987). Women, fire, and dangerous things: What categories reveal about the mind. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (1980). Metaphors we live by. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lipkus, I. M. (2007). Numeric, verbal, and visual formats of conveying health risks: Suggested best practices and future recommendations. Medical Decision Making, 27, 696–713.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lipkus, I. M., & Hollands, J. G. (1999). The visual communication of risk. Journal of the National Cancer Institute Monographs, 25, 149–163.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lipkus, I. M., & Peters, E. (2009). Framework and practical insights understanding the role of numeracy in health: Proposed theoretical insights. Health Education and Behavior, 36, 1065–1081.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lipkus, I. M., Samsa, G., & Rimer, B. K. (2001). General performance on a numeracy scale among highly educated samples. Medical Decision Making, 21, 37–44.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Marschark, M., & Hunt, R. R. (1986). On memory for metaphor. Memory and Cognition, 13, 412–424.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marschark, M., Katz, A. N., & Paivio, A. (1983). Dimensions of metaphor. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 12, 17–40.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mintz, E., & Ostbye, T. (1992). Teaching statistics to health professionals: The legal analogy. Medical Teacher, 14, 371–374.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Newby, T. J., Ertmer, P. A., & Stepich, D. A. (1995). Instructional analogies and the learning of concepts. Educational Technology Research and Development, 43, 5–18.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oppenheimer, R. (1956). Analogy in science. American Psychologist, 11, 127–135.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ortony, A., Reynolds, R. E., & Arter, J. A. (1978). Metaphor: Theoretical and empirical research. Psychological Bulletin, 85, 919–943.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Paivio, A. (1969). Mental imagery in associative learning and memory. Psychological Review, 76, 241–263.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Paivio, A. (1986). Mental representations: A dual coding approach. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Peters, E. (2012). Beyond comprehension: The role of numeracy in judgments and decisions. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 21, 31–35. Peters, E., Dieckmann, N. F., Västfjäll, D., Mertz, C. K., Slovic, P., & Hibbard, J. (2009). Bringing meaning to numbers: The impact of evaluative categories on decisions. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 15, 213–227.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Peters, E., Hibbard, J. H., Slovic, P., & Dieckmann, N. F. (2007). Numeracy skill and the communication, comprehension, and use of risk and benefit information. Health Affairs, 26, 741–748.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Peters, E., Västfjäll, D., Slovic, P., Mertz, C. K., Mazzocco, K., & Dickert, S. (2006). Numeracy and decision making. Psychological Science, 17, 407–413.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Reichmann, P., & Coste, E. (1980). Mental imagery and the comprehension of figurative language: Is there a relationship? In R. P. Honeck & R. Hoffman (Eds.), Cognition and figurative language (pp. 183–200). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reyna, V. R., Nelson, W. L., Han, P., & Dieckmann, N. F. (2009). How numeracy influences risk comprehension and medical decision making. Psychological Bulletin, 135, 943–973.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Schwartz, L. M., Woloshin, S., Black, W. C., & Welch, H. G. (1997). The role of numeracy in understanding the benefit of screening mammography. Annals of Internal Medicine, 127, 966–972.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Schwartz, L. M., Woloshin, S., & Welch, G. (2005). Can patients interpret health information? An assessment of the medical data interpretation test. Medical Decision Making, 25, 290–300.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Snowdon, C., Garcia, J., & Elbourne, D. (1997). Making sense of randomization: Responses of parents of critically ill babies to random allocation of treatment in a clinical trial. Social Science and Medicine, 45, 1337–1355.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sopory, P. (2005). Metaphor in formative evaluation and message design: An application to relationships and alcohol use. Health Communication, 17, 149–172.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sopory, P., & Dillard, J. (2002). The persuasive effects of metaphor: A meta-analysis. Human Communication Research, 28, 382–419.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tourangeau, R., & Sternberg, R. (1981). Aptness in metaphor. Cognitive Psychology, 13, 27–55.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tourangeau, R., & Sternberg, R. (1982). Understanding and appreciating metaphors. Cognition, 11, 203–244.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Trick, L., & Katz, A. (1986). The domain interaction approach to metaphor processing: Relating individual differences and metaphor characteristics. Metaphor and Symbolic Activity, 1, 185–213.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Waters, E. A., Weinstein, N. D., Colditz, G. A., & Emmons, K. M. (2007). Reducing aversion to side effects in preventive medical treatment decisions. Journal of Experimental Psychology. Applied, 13, 11–21.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Whitney, P., Budd, D., & Mio, J. S. (1996). Individual differences in metaphoric facilitation of comprehension. In J. S. Mio & A. N. Katz (Eds.), Metaphor: Implications and applications (pp. 203–214). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zikmund-Fisher, B. J., Fagerlin, A., & Ubel, P. A. (2010). A demonstration of “less can be more” in risk graphics. Medical Decision Making, 30, 661–671.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Adaptive Behavior and Cognition, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Lentzeallee 94, Berlin, 14195, Germany

    Mirta Galesic Ph.D. & Rocio Garcia-Retamero Ph.D.

  2. Departamento de Psicología Experimental, Facultad de Psicología, University of Granada, Campus Universitario de Cartuja s/n, Granada, 18071, Spain

    Rocio Garcia-Retamero Ph.D.

Authors
  1. Mirta Galesic Ph.D.
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Rocio Garcia-Retamero Ph.D.
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mirta Galesic Ph.D. .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Campus Universitario de Cartuja, Departmento de Psicologia Experimental, Universidad de Granada, Granada, 18071, Spain

    Rocio Garcia-Retamero

  2. , Ctr for Adaptive Behavior and Cognition, Max Planck Institute for Human Dev., Lentzeallee 94, Berlin, 14195, Germany

    Mirta Galesic

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2012 Springer Science+Business Media New York

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Galesic, M., Garcia-Retamero, R. (2012). Communicating Information About Preventive Medical Treatments and Screenings. In: Garcia-Retamero, R., Galesic, M. (eds) Transparent Communication of Health Risks. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-4358-2_7

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-4358-2_7

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-4357-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-4358-2

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation