As the day wore on I began to remember bits and pieces of the research I was
thinking of. I don't think it had anything to do with risk perception (though
that's an interesting angle). I think the research was linked to cognitive
dissonance - the dissonance one might experience when living close to dangerous
situations (like three mile island) but not wanting to - or being unable to -
move out of the area. One way to deal with this situation is to downplay the
danger of the situation ("It's not likely to happen again", etc).
Michael A. Britt, Ph.D.
[email protected]
http://www.ThePsychFiles.com
Twitter: mbritt
On Jun 3, 2013, at 9:43 AM, "Helweg-Larsen, Marie" <[email protected]>
wrote:
> Hi Michael
> I study risk perception and I have also been noticing the types of things
> people have said about living there or their unwillingness to seek shelter.
> There is quite a bit of research on the perceived risk of natural disasters.
>
> Briefly, tornados are a good example of a risk that is present but hard to
> quantify and particularly impossible to figure out how it might affect you.
> This was particular true with Three Mile Island where no one knew the risk
> (see lots of info here http://www.threemileisland.org/). Some people are risk
> averse and they might move out of a high risk area (so the people who are
> left are those who are not so worried) or take extra precautions (perceived
> control over avoiding adverse outcomes is an important psychological
> variable). Personal experience also plays an important role. There are
> tornados all the time just like there are earthquakes all the time (I lived
> in LA for many years) so people have lots of experience with the event when
> it does not result in injuries or deaths. These personal experiences can
> support the belief that deaths/injuries are the vast exception (which of
> course they are) and that precautions are not that important. In general,
> direct personal experience with an event (and its negative consequences) is
> associated with increased precautions.
>
> One interesting aspect with respect to perceived control is that you can take
> personal and societal precautions that reduce the risk. The reason there are
> relatively few deaths as a result of earthquakes in California (for example)
> is because of very strict building codes that prevent individuals (buyers or
> builders) from using their (misguided) individual risk perception to cut
> corners. But from media reports from Oklahoma it sounds like people have
> consistently rejected requiring new homes to have safe rooms (or basements)
> or requiring old schools to be fitted with safe rooms.
>
> Marie
>
>
> Marie Helweg-Larsen, Ph.D.
> Associate Professor l Department of Psychology
> Kaufman 168 l Dickinson College
> Phone 717.245.1562 l Fax 717.245.1971
> http://users.dickinson.edu/~helwegm/index.htm
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Michael Britt [mailto:[email protected]]
> Sent: Monday, June 03, 2013 6:56 AM
> To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)
> Subject: [tips] Three Mile Island Study
>
> Okay, let's see who has the best memory: I know there was a study in which
> people who lived near three mile island were interviewed about the dangers of
> living there and they all downplayed or rationalized their unwillingness to
> move. Does anyone remember more about that study? I just saw an interview
> with a woman who's house was destroyed by a tornado and the reasons she gave
> for not wanting to get out of "tornado alley" were completely irrational and
> they reminded me of that study.
>
> Michael
>
> Michael A. Britt, Ph.D.
> [email protected]
> http://www.ThePsychFiles.com
> Twitter: mbritt
>
>
>
>
>
>
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