What's the beach like? Context effects in judgements of environmental quality

Eiser, Richard J; Reicher, Stephen D; Podpadec, Tessa

Abstract

Two questionnaire studies are described in which visitors to beaches were asked to evaluate the beach where they were, and judge the extent to which it was affected by each of a number of specific pollutants. In both studies, instructions were varied so as to lead respondents to consider the beach in terms of levels of pollution, danger or dirtiness ('linguistic framing'). In study 1 (n = 813), the list of specific pollutants was varied in size from three to 12 items. The less positive the overall evaluation of the beach, the more it was judged to be affected by any pollutant mentioned. Linguistic framing interacted with set size, with higher impact attributed to each pollutant within larger sets when respondents were asked about dirtiness, but an opposite effect when they were asked about danger. In study 2 (n = 284), item sets of different levels of severity were compared. Contrast effects were found, with mild or moderate items evaluated as less serious when presented together with other more severe items; however, ratings of more severe items were unaffected by the presentation of milder items. There were significant correlations between overall evaluations of the beach and ratings of the extent to which it was affected by specific pollutants. However, these depended on the question order as well as partly on the linguistic frame. The findings are interpreted in relation to information-processing strategies underlying attitude formation and judgement. © 1993 Academic Press Ltd.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Online Publication Date: Jul 8, 2005
• Publication Date: 1993-12
• Deposit Date: Jul 6, 2021
• Journal: Journal of Environmental Psychology
• Print ISSN: 0272-4944
• Electronic ISSN: 1522-9610
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 13
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 343-352
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0272-4944%2805%2980256-7
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/7503446