1. |
- Ekane, Nelson, et al.
(author)
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Risk and benefit judgment of excreta as fertilizer in agriculture: An exploratory investigation in Rwanda and Uganda
- 2016
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In: Human and Ecological Risk Assessment. - : Taylor & Francis. - 1080-7039 .- 1549-7860. ; 22:3, s. 639-666
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This research explores the use of psychometric techniques to improve understanding of psychological mechanisms underlying judgment of excreta as fertilizer in agriculture including other excreta related activities. Participants consisted of environmental health students, smallholder farmers and traders in rural and urban Rwanda and Uganda. The finding reveals an inverse relationship between risk and benefit judgments. This relationship holds for the three groups of participants with significant risk-benefit correlations of p<.0001. This finding is consistent with other studies showing that affect plays a key role in risk perception, judgment and decision making.Building on this finding, we conclude that individuals with high risk and low benefit judgment for excreta related practices would eschew them or emphasize strict standards. Individuals with a high benefit and low risk judgment would engage in excreta management practices regardless of the actual risks involved. This finding is relevant for risk communication and risk management as it indicates that individuals do not rely only on risk management information they receive concerning excreta and related risks but also depend to an extent on their feelings about these substances when making judgments and decisions regarding the purpose for using excreta as fertilizer and the level of exposure they can tolerate and manage.
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2. |
- Flores, Alexandra, et al.
(author)
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Politicians polarize and experts depolarize public support for COVID-19 management policies across countries
- 2022
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In: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. - : National Academy of Sciences. - 0027-8424 .- 1091-6490. ; 119:3
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Political polarization impeded public support for policies to reduce the spread of COVID-19, much as polarization hinders responses to other contemporary challenges. Unlike previous theory and research that focused on the United States, the present research examined the effects of political elite cues and affective polarization on support for policies to manage the COVID-19 pandemic in seven countries (n = 12,955): Brazil, Israel, Italy, South Korea, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Across countries, cues from political elites polarized public attitudes toward COVID-19 policies. Liberal and conservative respondents supported policies proposed by ingroup politicians and parties more than the same policies from outgroup politicians and parties. Respondents disliked, distrusted, and felt cold toward outgroup political elites, whereas they liked, trusted, and felt warm toward both ingroup political elites and nonpartisan experts. This affective polarization was correlated with policy support. These findings imply that policies from bipartisan coalitions and nonpartisan experts would be less polarizing, enjoying broader public support. Indeed, across countries, policies from bipartisan coalitions and experts were more widely supported. A follow-up experiment replicated these findings among US respondents considering international vaccine distribution policies. The polarizing effects of partisan elites and affective polarization emerged across nations that vary in cultures, ideologies, and political systems. Contrary to some propositions, the United States was not exceptionally polarized. Rather, these results suggest that polarizing processes emerged simply from categorizing people into political ingroups and outgroups. Political elites drive polarization globally, but nonpartisan experts can help resolve the conflicts that arise from it.
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3. |
- Peters, Ellen, et al.
(author)
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Bringing meaning to numbers: The impact of evaluative categories on decisions.
- 2009
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In: Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied. - 1076-898X. ; 15:3, s. 213-227
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Decision makers are often quite poor at using numeric information in decisions. The results of 4 experimentsdemonstrate that a manipulation of evaluative meaning (i.e., the extent to which an attribute can be mappedonto a good/bad scale; this manipulation is accomplished through the addition of visual boundary lines andevaluative labels to a graphical format) has a robust influence in health judgments and choices and acrossdiverse adult populations. The manipulation resulted in greater use of numeric quality-of-care information injudgments and less reliance on an irrelevant affective state among the less numerate. Recall results forprovided quality-of-care numbers suggested that the manipulation did not influence depth of number processingwith the exception of cost information that was not remembered as well. Results of a reaction-timeparadigm revealed that feelings were more accessible than thoughts in the presence of the manipulation,suggesting that the effect may be due, at least in part, to an affective mechanism. Numeric information is oftenprovided in decisions, but may not be usable by consumers without assistance from information providers.Implications for consumer decision making and the functions of affect are discussed.
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4. |
- Peters, Ellen, et al.
(author)
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Numeracy and decision making
- 2006
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In: PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE. - : SAGE Publications. - 0956-7976 .- 1467-9280. ; 17:5, s. 407-413
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- A series of four studies explored how the ability to comprehend and transform probability numbers relates to performance on judgment and decision tasks. On the surface, the tasks in the four studies appear to be widely different; at a conceptual level, however, they all involve processing numbers and the potential to show an influence of affect. Findings were consistent with highly numerate individuals being more likely to retrieve and use appropriate numerical principles, thus making themselves less susceptible to framing effects, compared with less numerate individuals. In addition, the highly numerate tended to draw different (generally stronger or more precise) affective meaning from numbers and numerical comparisons, and their affective responses were more precise. Although generally helpful, this tendency may sometimes lead to worse decisions. The less numerate were influenced more by competing, irrelevant affective considerations. Analyses showed that the effect of numeracy was not due to general intelligence. Numerical ability appears to matter to judgments and decisions in important ways.
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5. |
- Slovic, Paul, et al.
(author)
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Virtuous violence from the war room to death row
- 2020
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In: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. - : NATL ACAD SCIENCES. - 0027-8424 .- 1091-6490. ; 117:34, s. 20474-20482
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- How likely is it that someone would approve of using a nuclear weapon to kill millions of enemy civilians in the hope of ending a ground war that threatens thousands of American troops? Ask them how they feel about prosecuting immigrants, banning abortion, supporting the death penalty, and protecting gun rights and you will know. This is the finding from two national surveys of Democrats and Republicans that measured support for punitive regulations and policies across these four seemingly unrelated issues, and a fifth, using nuclear weapons against enemy civilians (in survey 1) or approving of disproportionate killing with conventional weapons (in survey 2). Those who support these various policies that threaten harm to many people tend to believe that the victims are blameworthy and it is ethical to take actions or policies that might harm them. This lends support to the provocative notion of "virtuous violence" put forth by Fiske and Rai [A. P. Fiske, T. S. Rai, Virtuous Violence: Hurting and Killing to Create, Sustain, End, and Honor Social Relationships (2014)], who assert that people commit violence because they believe it is the morally right thing to do. The common thread of punitiveness underlying and connecting these issues needs to be recognized, understood, and confronted by any society that professes to value fundamental human rights and wishes to prevent important decisions from being affected by irrelevant and harmful sociocultural and political biases.
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6. |
- Svenson, Ola, et al.
(author)
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Effects of main actor, outcome and affect on biased braking speed judgments
- 2012
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In: Judgment and Decision Making. - : Society for Judgment and Decision Making. - 1930-2975. ; 7:3, s. 235-243
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Subjects who judged speed in a driving scenario overestimated how fast they could decelerate when speeding compared to when keeping within the speed limit (Svenson, 2009). The purpose of the present studies were to replicate studies conducted in Europe with subjects in the U. S., to study the influence of speed unit (kph vs. mph), affective reactions to outcome (collision) and identity of main actor (driver) on braking speed judgments. The results replicated the European findings and the outcome affective factor (passing a line/killing a child) and the actor factor (subject/driver in general) had significant effects on judgments of braking speed. The results were related to psychological theory and applied implications were discussed.
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