Many individuals experience problems understanding and preparing forlow-probability/high-impact risk, like natural disasters and pandemics –unless they experience these events, yet then it is often too late to avoiddamages. Individuals with recent disaster risk experience are, on average,better prepared. This seems to be mediated through emotions and a betterunderstanding of the consequences. In this study, we use immersive virtualreality (VR) technology to examine whether a simulated disaster can stimulatepeople to invest in risk reducing measures in the context of flooding, which isone of the deadliest and most damaging natural disasters in the world. Weinvestigate the possibility to boost risk perception, coping appraisal, negativeemotions and damage-reducing behavior through a simulated flooding experience.We find that participants who experienced the virtual flood invest significantlymore in the flood risk investment game than those in the control group. Theinvestments in the VR treatment seem to decrease after four weeks but notsignificantly so.

Nudges based on social norms (norm-nudges) can be compelling behavioral interventions compared with traditional interventions such as taxes and regulations, but they do not work in all circumstances. We tested two empirical norm-nudge frames in an online experiment on taking measures for flood preparedness with large samples of homeowners (N = 1805) in two European countries, to evaluate the possible interactions between norm-nudge effectiveness, individual characteristics, and intercultural differences. We contrasted these norm-nudge treatments with a control and norm-focusing treatment by asking respondents to express their beliefs about what other respondents would do before making a decision relevant to their own payoff. We find no evidence of a treatment effect, suggesting that our social norm-nudges do not affect flood preparedness in the context of a flood risk investment game.