Psychological Factors Underlying Desire for Questionable Screening Tests

Under certain circumstances cancer screening may do more harm than good. Yet, research has demonstrated considerable public demand for cancer screening even when screening efficacy is questionable. We will present recent research exploring the psychological processes underlying these preferences, finding that interest in questionable screening tests can be attributed to both affective (e.g. anxiety) and cognitive (e.g. information seeking) factors that often interact in surprising ways.