Grantee Research Project Results
1997 Progress Report: Towards a Social Psychology of Stated Preferences
EPA Grant Number: R824693Title: Towards a Social Psychology of Stated Preferences
Investigators: Dietz, Thomas , Guagnano, Gregory A. , Stern, Paul C.
Current Investigators: Dietz, Thomas
Institution: George Mason University , National Research Council
Current Institution: George Mason University
EPA Project Officer: Chung, Serena
Project Period: October 1, 1995 through December 31, 1999
Project Period Covered by this Report: October 1, 1996 through December 31, 1997
Project Amount: $180,000
RFA: Valuation and Environmental Policy (1995) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Environmental Justice
Objective:
The kind of logic used in making decisions depends on the context in which the decision is made. Decisions about expensive choices, such as the purchase of a car, house, or college education, usually involve research, conversation, reflection, and comparison of alternatives. Such decisions probably are well described by rational choice theory. Routine decisions, such as the purchase of non-durable consumer goods, are repeated frequently and allow for learning over time. Thus, rational choice theory is applicable here as well. But decisions that assign value to environmental goods and services, including non-consumptive uses, may not be well described by traditional rational choice theory. Many environmental issues are novel, and the public will have limited familiarity with them. Indeed, being asked about such issues in a contingent valuation survey may be the first time many individuals have heard about such problems.We suggest that when presented with novel phenomena, and when required to make a quick decision (as in responding to a survey), people use cues contained in the context of the question to decide how the question links to their core values. Different cues will highlight different values and will lead to different decisions ? in the case of valuation surveys, to different stated preferences. The strength of the focus effect should depend on how familiar an individual is with the objects being described in the question.
In previous studies, we have shown that payment vehicles (taxes vs. contributions to a fund) lead not only to different stated willingness to pay but also to differences in the determinants of willingness to pay. We review those results and also present preliminary analyses of a national survey with an embedded experiment in which we manipulate question wording to focus respondents on different values for some relatively familiar and some relatively unfamiliar problems. We conclude by discussing the plans for the second phase of our study in which we are experimenting with deliberative approaches to environmental valuation.
Journal Articles:
No journal articles submitted with this report: View all 4 publications for this projectSupplemental Keywords:
taxes, willingness to pay, contingent valuation method, economics, survey., RFA, Scientific Discipline, Economic, Social, & Behavioral Science Research Program, Economics & Decision Making, decision-making, Social Science, economic objectives, willingness to pay, embedding effects, social impact analysis, incentives, taxes, surveys, decision analysis, psychological attitudes, social psychology, valuation, contingent valuation, stated preferenceProgress and Final Reports:
Original AbstractThe perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.