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Recent studies find that people in high-income countries now think of climate change impacts, such as flooding or periods of high temperature, as being of immediate relevance and concern. Individuals and households can take adaptation actions to help limit the severity of harm caused when climate impacts occur, for example, they could make adjustments to their homes such as installing flood gates or sun shades, or they could adapt their behavior such as staying indoors during the hottest part of the day. However, so far adaptation is not yet happening at the speed or scale needed to adequately prepare for the climate impacts already being experienced or those projected for the coming decades. Here, we propose an agenda for future social science research that would further our understanding of how best to increase engagement and action in climate change adaptation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some African-American communities in the U.S. South are excluded from nearby municipal water and sewer services and therefore rely on private wells and septic systems. These 'underbounded' communities are disproportionately exposed to water contaminants and face elevated risks for poor health outcomes. Outreach efforts encouraging proper well testing and maintenance are needed to protect health in these communities. To identify knowledge gaps and misconceptions that such outreach programs should target, we conducted semistructured interviews with 18 residents of such communities in Wake County, North Carolina. Only one interviewee conducted annual well testing as recommended by the county health department. Interview results suggest that testing is inhibited by lack of awareness of well maintenance guidelines, overreliance on sensory information, poor understanding of exposure pathways, and cost. Links between private septic systems, well water contamination, and health are poorly understood, hindering proper septic maintenance. These findings highlight the need for risk communication materials targeting at-risk communities., IntroductionThroughout the U.S. South, some African-American communities have been systematically excluded from municipalities through exclusionary zoning practices known as 'underbounding' (Aiken, 1987; Lichter, Parisi, Grice, & Taquino, 2007). Today, municipalities [...]

To understand consumers' investment decisions, national surveys such as the Health and Retirement Study elicit consumers' expectations about stock market movements. Analyses of stock market expectations show substantial heterogeneity between [...]

In a national online survey, 505 participants reported their perceptions of energy consumption and savings for a variety of household, transportation, and recycling activities. When asked for the most effective strategy they could implement to conserve energy, most participants mentioned curtailment (e.g., turning off lights, driving less) rather than efficiency improvements (e.g., installing more efficient light bulbs and appliances), in contrast to experts' recommendations. For a sample of 15 activities, participants underestimated energy use and savings by a factor of 2.8 on average, with small overestimates for low-energy activities and large underestimates for high-energy activities. Additional estimation and ranking tasks also yielded relatively flat functions for perceived energy use and savings. Across several tasks, participants with higher numeracy scores and stronger proenvironmental attitudes had more accurate perceptions. The serious deficiencies highlighted by these results suggest that well-designed efforts to improve the public's understanding of energy use and savings could pay large dividends. climate change | decision making |judgment J environmental behavior | anchoring www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1001509107

When financial decisions have consequences beyond the immediate future, individuals' economic success may depend on their ability to forecast the rate of inflation. Higher inflation expectations have been reported by [...]

Decision making is rarely taught in high school, even though improved decision skills could benefit young people facing life-shaping decisions. While decision competence has been shown to correlate with better life outcomes, few interventions designed to improve decision skills have been evaluated with rigorous quantitative measures. A randomized study showed that integrating decision making into U.S. history instruction improved students' history knowledge and decision-making competence, compared to traditional history instruction. Thus, integrating decision training enhanced academic performance and improved an important, general life skill associated with improved life outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]