Introduction
The Berlin Emotional Responses to Risk Instrument (BERRI) is a brief 6-item measure of positive and negative anticipatory feelings toward choices, risks and risk-related information. Dafina Petrova, Edward T. Cokely and colleagues published it in 2023 in Risk Analysis. It is intended for research on risky decision making, risk perception and risk communication.
The BERRI is part of the international RiskLiteracy.org project. It separates hopeful, reassuring feelings from anxious, fearful ones about the same risk. This guide explains its items, scoring, reliability evidence and the right way to report its scores.
Key Features of the BERRI
Purpose and Use
The BERRI measures how people feel about a specific risk, choice or piece of risk information. Researchers use it to study risky decision making, risk perception and risk communication, including health risk communication.
Target Population
The BERRI is intended for adults aged 18 and older who are exposed to decision-relevant information about risks, benefits, choices or risky prospects.
Structure
The BERRI contains 6 adjective-based items in two components:
Positive anticipatory affect: assured, hopeful and relievedNegative anticipatory affect: anxious, afraid and worriedThe items follow a context-specific prompt, such as "How do you feel about ____?" or "How did you feel when you read the information about ____?"
Scoring Method
In the main English version, respondents rate each item on a 7-point scale from 1 (not at all) to 7 (extremely).
BERRI-positive: the average of assured, hopeful and relieved.BERRI-negative: the average of anxious, afraid and worried.Reporting: report the positive and negative scores separately. A global affect score can be added as an extra estimate, but it should not replace the two separate scores.Administration Format
Respondents complete the BERRI themselves after reading the prompt about a specific risk or choice. The questionnaire and scoring instructions appear in Figure 1 of the original article.
Applications of the BERRI
The BERRI is best used in research and risk communication:
Risk communication: measuring emotional reactions to risk information.Decision-making research: studying feelings about risky choices and prospects.Health risk communication: assessing how people feel about health risks and related information.Languages and availability
Besides English, the original development article translated and evaluated Polish (Study 5) and Spanish (Study 6 and Appendix D) versions.
The BERRI is free for non-commercial use with proper attribution, under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial license.
Reliability and Validity
The development article reported evidence for a two-factor structure, internal consistency, predictive validity, convergent and divergent validity, sensitivity to risk-related manipulations and moderate test–retest reliability. Cronbach's alphas varied by study:
Study
BERRI-negative
BERRI-positive
Study 1
0.85
0.81
Study 2
0.88
0.82
Study 3
0.86–0.93
0.91–0.94
Study 5 (Polish)
0.90
0.68
Study 6 (Spanish)
About 0.72–0.89 across components and scenarios
In Study 7, two-week test–retest correlations ranged from r = 0.40 to 0.59.
Validation studies:
Measuring feelings about choices and risks: the Berlin Emotional Responses to Risk Instrument (BERRI) (2023): study linkLimitations and Considerations
Keep these points in mind:
Not a clinical tool: the BERRI suits research and risk communication, not diagnosis or clinical screening.Keep the original structure: preserve the item wording and scoring, and report BERRI-positive and BERRI-negative separately.Translations and cut-offs: avoid unvalidated translations and unsupported clinical cut-offs.Moderate stability: test–retest correlations were moderate (0.40–0.59).Other Versions And Related Questionnaires
These measures are related:
Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS); see the ResRef PANAS guideSelf-Assessment Manikin (SAM)Domain-Specific Risk-Taking Scale (DOSPERT)Additional Resources
The original article: linkThe BERRI project materials on OSF: linkFor inquiries, contact Dafina Petrova at dafinapetrova@ugr.es or Rocio Garcia-Retamero at rretamer@ugr.es.Browse more public health questionnaires in the ResRef database.Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
What does the BERRI measure?The BERRI measures positive and negative anticipatory feelings about a specific risk, choice or piece of risk information, using six adjectives: assured, hopeful, relieved, anxious, afraid and worried.
How is the BERRI scored?Items are rated from 1 (not at all) to 7 (extremely). Average the three positive items for BERRI-positive and the three negative items for BERRI-negative, and report the two scores separately.
Can the BERRI be used for clinical screening?No. The BERRI is designed for research and risk communication, not diagnosis or clinical screening, and it has no validated clinical cut-offs.
Is the BERRI free to use?Yes, for non-commercial use with proper attribution, under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial license.
A Word from ResRef About the BERRI
The Berlin Emotional Responses to Risk Instrument (BERRI) is a brief, validated 6-item measure for assessing positive and negative anticipatory emotional responses to risks and choices. It is best used in research and risk communication contexts rather than as a diagnostic or clinical screening tool. Users should preserve the original item wording and scoring structure, report BERRI-positive and BERRI-negative separately, and avoid applying unvalidated translations or unsupported clinical cut-offs.
References
Petrova, D., Cokely, E. T., Sobkow, A., Traczyk, J., Garrido, D., & Garcia‐Retamero, R. (2023). Measuring feelings about choices and risks: The Berlin Emotional Responses to Risk Instrument (BERRI). Risk Analysis, 43(4), 724–746. https://doi.org/10.1111/risa.13946