Would you rather be injured by lightning or a downed power line? Preference for natural hazards
Journal Title: Judgment and Decision Making - Year 2011, Vol 6, Issue 4
Abstract
Past research has shown that many people prefer natural foods and medicines over artificial counterparts. The present study focused on examination of aversive events and hazards. Preferences were compared by having subjects consider pairs of scenarios, one natural and one artificial, matched in negative outcome and severity. Pairings were also rated along several dimensions of risk perception such as dangerousness, scariness, likelihood, and fairness. As hypothesized, natural hazards were consistently preferred to functionally identical artificial ones. Additionally, natural hazards tended to be considered less scary and dangerous, but not necessarily more unfair or unlikely than equivalent artificial counterparts. Results are discussed in terms of risk perception, and how that can lead to people diminishing risks associated with natural hazards.
Authors and Affiliations
Jeffrey M. Rudski, William Osei, Ari R. Jacobson and Carl R. Lynch
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP677802
- DOI -
- Views 140
- Downloads 0
Trolley problems in context
Would you redirect a trolley to save five people even if it means that the trolley will run over a person on the side track? Most people say they would. Would you push that same person into the path of the trolley in ord...
Affective reactions and context-dependent processing of negations
Three experiments demonstrate how the processing of negations is contingent on the evaluation context in which the negative information is presented. In addition, the strategy used to process the negations induced differ...
Exemplar-based inference in multi-attribute decision making: Contingent, not automatic, strategy shifts?
Several studies propose that exemplar retrieval contributes to multi-attribute decisions. The authors have proposed a process theory enabling a priori predictions of what cognitive representations people use as input to...
Establishing the relevance of non-compensatory choice algorithms from stated choice surveys – an exploration
In applied sciences large-scale surveys are a popular means to acquire insights in the choices that people make in different contexts. In transportation research, for example, tens of thousands stated their choices betwe...
Asymmetric dominance and the stability of constructed preferences
In this research, we explore how experience with an "attraction set" of options, designed to elicit an asymmetric-dominance (attraction) effect, affects choice making in a second "compromise set" designed to elicit a com...