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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 [...]

Measures of adolescents' HIV/AIDS knowledge that cover only die basic facts may fail to assess underlying misunderstandings in need of intervention. We developed and evaluated a measure covering the broad domain of HIV/AIDS knowledge, emphasizing misunderstandings revealed in semi-structured qualitative interviews. These included the cumulative and relative risks of unsafe behaviors, proper condom use, needle cleaning, HIV test procedures, and disease progression. Reliability was satisfactory; a correlation between test performance and condom use among sexually active teens provided predictive validity. (Contains 4 tables, 1 figure, and 4 notes.)

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 [...]

The authors evaluated the reliability and validity of a set of 7 behavioral decision-making tasks, measuring different aspects of the decision-making process. The tasks were administered to individuals from diverse populations. Participants showed relatively consistent performance within and across the 7 tasks, which were then aggregated into an Adult Decision-Making Competence (A-DMC) index that showed good reliability. The validity of the 7 tasks and of overall A-DMC emerges in significant relationships with measures of socioeconomic status, cognitive ability, and decision-making styles. Participants who performed better on the A-DMC were less likely to report negative life events indicative of poor decision making, as measured by the Decision Outcomes Inventory. Significant predictive validity remains when controlling for demographic measures, measures of cognitive ability, and constructive decision-making styles. Thus, A-DMC appears to be a distinct construct relevant to adults' real-world decisions. Keywords: individual differences, decision making, judgment, competence, external validity

A longitudinal randomized design was used to evaluate the impact of a theoretically based, stand-alone interactive video intervention on 300 urban adolescent girls' (a) knowledge about sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), (b) self-reported sexual risk behavior, and (c) STD acquisition. It was compared to two controls, representing high-quality informational interventions. One used the same content in book form; the other used commercially available brochures. Following randomization, the interventions were administered at baseline, with booster sessions at 1, 3, and 6 months. Self-reports revealed that those assigned to the interactive video were significantly more likely to be abstinent in the first 3 months following initial exposure to the intervention, and experienced fewer condom failures in the following 3 months, compared to controls. Six months after enrollment, participants in the video condition were significantly less likely to report having been diagnosed with an STD. A non-significant trend in data from a clinical PCR assay of Chlamydia trachomatis was consistent with that finding. Keywords: Behavioral intervention; Condoms; Randomized controlled trials; Female adolescents; Abstinence; Sexual risk taking

Twenty-five women with breast implants participated in semistructured interviews designed to reveal their 'mental models' of the processes potentially causing local (ie, nonsystemic) problems. The authors analyzed their responses in [...]

Reducing CO2 emissions from the electricity sector will likely require policies that encourage the widespread deployment of a diverse mix of low-carbon electricity generation technologies. Public discourse informs such policies. To make informed decisions and to productively engage in public discourse, citizens need to understand the trade-offs between electricity technologies proposed for widespread deployment. Building on previous paper-and-pencil studies, we developed a computer tool that aimed to help nonexperts make informed decisions about the challenges faced in achieving a low-carbon energy future. We report on an initial usability study of this interactive computer tool. After providing participants with comparative and balanced information about 10 electricity technologies, we asked them to design a low-carbon electricity portfolio. Participants used the interactive computer tool, which constrained portfolio designs to be realistic and yield low CO2 emissions. As they changed their portfolios, the tool updated information about projected CO2 emissions, electricity costs, and specific environmental impacts. As in the previous paper-and-pencil studies, most participants designed diverse portfolios that included energy efficiency, nuclear, coal with carbon capture and sequestration, natural gas, and wind. Our results suggest that participants understood the tool and used it consistently. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

Using cluster-analysis, we investigated whether rational, intuitive, spontaneous, dependent, and avoidant styles of decision making (Scott & Bruce, 1995) combined to form distinct decision-making profiles that differed by age and gender. Self-report survey data were collected from 1,075 members of RAND's American Life Panel (56.2% female, 18-93 years, M age = 53.49). Three decision-making profiles were identified: affective/experiential, independent/self-controlled, and an interpersonally-oriented dependent profile. Older people were less likely to be in the affective/experiential profile and more likely to be in the independent/self-controlled profile. Women were less likely to be in the affective/experiential profile and more likely to be in the interpersonally-oriented dependent profile. Interpersonally-oriented profiles are discussed as an overlooked but important dimension of how people make important decisions.