Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

What’s in Your Body of Water? A Pilot Study Using Metaphoric Framing to Reduce the Psychological Distance in Pharmaceutical Pollution Risk Communication

  • Published:
Environmental Management Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Aquatic pharmaceutical pollution poses ecotoxicological risks to the environment and human health. Consumer pharmaceutical use and disposal behaviors represent a significant source of pharmaceutical compounds in surface waters, and communication strategies are needed to promote pro-environmental behaviors to reduce pharmaceutical pollution. Designing effective risk communication campaigns requires an understanding of public perceptions of aquatic pharmaceutical pollution. The purpose of this mixed-methods pilot study was to test the efficacy of using theories from cognitive linguistics and psychology (conceptual metaphor theory and construal level theory of psychological distance, respectively) in using metaphors in pharmaceutical pollution risk communication. Our methods included a randomized cross-over design in which a convenience sample of university students (n = 20) viewed visual representations of pharmaceutical pollution risks (metaphor based and non-metaphor). We used cognitive interviewing methods to assess metaphor use on participants understanding of pharmaceutical pollution risk, concern about this risk, and willingness to act. Results indicate that participants preferred the metaphorically-framed visual, and that the use of metaphor significantly reduced participants’ perceived social and geographic distance of pharmaceutical pollution risk, suggesting a relationship between metaphoric framing and psychological distance warranting additional research. Theoretical and practical implications of metaphor use in risk communications are discussed.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Amit E, Wakslak C, Trope Y (2013) The use of visual and verbal means of communication across psychological distance. Personal Soc Psychol Bull 39:43–56

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Antunes S, Freitas R, Figueira E, Gonçalves F, Nunes B (2013) Biochemical effects of acetaminophen in aquatic species: edible clams Venerupis decussata and Venerupis philippinarum. Environ Sci Pollut Res 20:6658–6666. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-013-1784-9

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Banzhaf S, Krein A, Scheytt T (2011) Investigative approaches to determine exchange processes in the hyporheic zone of a low permeability riverbank. Hydrogeol J 19:591–601

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bar-Anan Y, Liberman N, Trope Y, Algom D (2007) Automatic processing of psychological distance: evidence from a stroop task. J Exp Psychol: Gen 136:610–622. https://doi.org/10.1037/0096-3445.136.4.610

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beatty PC, Willis GB (2007) Research synthesis: the practice of cognitive interviewing. Public Opin Q 71:287–311. https://doi.org/10.1093/poq/nfm006

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blair B, Zimny-Schmitt D, Rudd MA (2017) US News media coverage of pharmaceutical pollution in the aquatic environment: a content analysis of the problems and solutions presented by actors. Environ Manag 60:314–322

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bound JP, Kitsou K, Voulvoulis N (2006) Household disposal of pharmaceuticals and perception of risk to the environment. Environ Toxicol Phar 21:301–307. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.etap.2005.09.006

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Brandao FP, Pereira JL, Goncalves F, Nunes B (2014) The impact of paracetamol on selected biomarkers of the mollusc species Corbicula fluminea. Environ Toxicol 29:74–83. https://doi.org/10.1002/tox.20774

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Chung S-s, Brooks BW (2019) Identifying household pharmaceutical waste characteristics and population behaviors in one of the most densely populated global cities. Resour, Conserv Recycling 140:267–277

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Daughton C (2007) Pharmaceuticals in the environment: sources and their management Comprehensive. Anal Chem 50:1–58

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Daughton CG (2003) Cradle-to-cradle stewardship of drugs for minimizing their environmental disposition while promoting human health. II. Drug disposal, waste reduction, and future directions. Environ Health Perspect 111:775

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • de Leeuw ED, Hox JJ, Dillman DA (2008) International handbook of survey methodology. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, New York, NY & London

    Google Scholar 

  • Dillman DA (2014) Internet, phone, mail, and mixed-mode surveys: the tailored design method Surveys, 4th edn. Wiley, Hoboken, New Jersey

    Google Scholar 

  • Dohle S, Campbell VEA, Arvai JL (2013) Consumer-perceived risks and choices about pharmaceuticals in the environment: a cross-sectional study. Environ Health: A Glob Access Sci Source 12:45

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dunlap RE, Van Liere KD, Mertig AG, Jones RE (2000) New trends in measuring environmental attitudes: measuring endorsement of the new ecological paradigm: a revised NEP scale. J Soc Issues 56:425–442. https://doi.org/10.1111/0022-4537.00176

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Environmental Protection Agency (2008) White paper aquatic life criteria for contaminants of emerging concern: Part I, general challenges and recommendations. Environmental Protection Agency

  • Flaherty CM, Dodson SI (2005) Effects of pharmaceuticals on Daphnia survival, growth, and reproduction. Chemosphere 61:200–207. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2005.02.016

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Focazio MJ et al. (2008) A national reconnaissance for pharmaceuticals and other organic wastewater contaminants in the United States–II) Untreated drinking water sources Sci Total Environ 402:201–216. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2008.02.021

  • Geary J (2011) I is an other: the secret life of metaphor and how it shapes the way we see the world, 1st edn. HarperCollins, New York, NY

    Google Scholar 

  • Gibbs RW (1996) Why many concepts are metaphorical. Cognition 61:309–319

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gifford R et al. (2009) Temporal pessimism and spatial optimism in environmental assessments: An 18-nation study. J Environ Psychol 29:1–12

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Glassmeyer ST et al. (2009) Disposal practices for unwanted residential medications in the United States. Environ Int 35:566–572. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2008.10.007

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Groves R, Fowler FJ, Couper MP, Lepkowski JM, Singer E, Tourangeau R (2009) Survey methodology. In Groves RM, Fowler FJ, Couper MP, Lepkowski JM, Singer E, Tourangeau R (eds) (2nd ed., Wiley series in survey methodology). Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley

  • Haden VR, Niles MT, Lubell M, Perlman J, Jackson LE (2012) Global and local concerns: what attitudes and beliefs motivate farmers to mitigate and adapt to climate change? PLoS ONE 7:e52882. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0052882

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hatano G, Wertsch JV (2001) Sociocultural approaches to cognitive development: the constitutions of culture in mind. Hum Dev 44:77

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jackson M (1983) Thinking through the body: an essay on understanding metaphor social analysis. Int J Social Cultural Pract 14:127–149

    Google Scholar 

  • Jia L, Smith ER (2013) Distance makes the metaphor grow stronger: a psychological distance model of metaphor use. J Exp Soc Psychol 49:492

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jobling S et al. (2006) Predicted exposures to steroid estrogens in U.K. rivers correlate with widespread sexual disruption in wild fish populations. Environ health Perspect 114(Suppl 1):32

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jones C, Hine DW, Marks AD (2016) The future is now: reducing psychological distance to increase public engagement with climate change. Risk Anal 37:331–341

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kolpin DW, Furlong ET, Meyer MT, Thurman EM, Zaugg SD, Barber LB, Buxton HT (2002) Pharmaceuticals, hormones, and other organic wastewater contaminants in U.S. streams, 1999–2000: a national reconnaissance. Environ Sci Technol 36:1202

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lakoff G, Johnson M (1980) Metaphors we live by. University of Chicago Press, Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • Landau MJ, Meier BP, Keefer LA (2010) A metaphor-enriched social cognition. Psychological Bull 136:1045–1067. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0020970

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Landau MJ, Robinson MD, Meier BP (eds) (2014) The power of metaphor: examining its influence on social life, 1st edn. American Psychological Association, Washington, DC

    Google Scholar 

  • Landau MJ, Sullivan D, Greenberg J (2009) Evidence that self-relevant motives and metaphoric framing interact to influence political and social attitudes. Psychological Sci 20:1421. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009.02462.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lara-Martín PA, González-Mazo E, Petrovic M, Barceló D, Brownawell BJ (2014) Occurrence, distribution and partitioning of nonionic surfactants and pharmaceuticals in the urbanized Long Island Sound Estuary (NY). Mar Pollut Bull 85:710–719

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lara-Martín PA, Renfro AA, Cochran JK, Brownawell BJ (2015) Geochronologies of pharmaceuticals in a sewage-impacted estuarine urban setting (Jamaica Bay, New York). Environ Sci Technol 49:5948–5955. https://doi.org/10.1021/es506009v

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Liberman N, Förster J (2009) Distancing from experienced self: How global-versus-local perception affects estimation of psychological distance. J Pers Soc Psychol 97:203–216. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0015671

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McDonald JH (2014) Handbook of biological statistics, 3rd ed. Sparky House Publishing, Baltimore, Maryland

    Google Scholar 

  • Milfont TL (2012) The interplay between knowledge, perceived efficacy, and concern about global warming and climate change: a one‐year longitudinal study. Risk Anal 32:1003–1020. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1539-6924.2012.01800.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Milfont TL, Abrahamse W, McCarthy N (2011) Spatial and temporal biases in assessments of environmental conditions in New Zealand. NZ J Psychol 40:56–67

    Google Scholar 

  • Milfont TL, Evans L, Sibley CG, Ries J, Cunningham A (2014) Proximity to coast is linked to climate change belief. PLoS ONE 9:e103180

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morris MW, Sheldon OJ, Ames DR, Young MJ (2007) Metaphors and the market: consequences and preconditions of agent and object metaphors in stock market commentary. Organ Behav Hum Decis Process 102:174–192. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2006.03.001

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Niles MT, Lubell M, Haden VR (2013) Perceptions and responses to climate policy risks among California farmers. Global Environ Change 23:1752

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Padhye LP, Yao H, Kung’u FT, Huang CH (2014) Year-long evaluation on the occurrence and fate of pharmaceuticals, personal care products, and endocrine disrupting chemicals in an urban drinking water treatment plant. Water Res 51:266–276. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2013.10.070

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rabinovich A, Morton TA, Postmes T, Verplanken B (2009) Think global, act local: the effect of goal and mindset specificity on willingness to donate to an environmental organization. J Environ Psychol 29:391–399

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ramirez AJ et al. (2009) Occurrence of pharmaceuticals and personal care products in fish: results of a national pilot study in the United States. Environ Toxicol Chem 28:2587–2597

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Schultz P et al. (2014) Cross-cultural evidence for spatial bias in beliefs about the severity of environmental problems. Environ Behav 46:267

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Spence A, Poortinga W, Pidgeon N (2012) The psychological distance of climate change. Risk Anal 32:957–972

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stackelberg PE, Gibs J, Furlong ET, Meyer MT, Zaugg SD, Lippincott RL (2007) Efficiency of conventional drinking- water- treatment processes in removal of pharmaceuticals and other organic compounds. Sci Total Environ 377:255–272. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2007.01.095

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Steen GJ, Reijnierse WG, Burgers C (2014) When do natural language metaphors influence reasoning? A follow-up study to thibodeau and boroditsky (2013). PLoS ONE 9:e113536. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0113536

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Stoddard K, Hodge V, Maxey G, Tiwari C, Cready C, Huggett D (2017) Investigating research gaps of pharmaceutical take back events: an analysis of take back program participants’ socioeconomic, demographic, and geographic characteristics and the public health benefits of take back programs. Environ Manag 59:871–884

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Trope Y, Liberman N (2010) Construal-level theory of psychological distance. Psychol Rev 117:440–463. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0018963

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • University of Vermont (2016) Census Enrollment Report, Fall 2016. 2016. https://www.uvm.edu/sites/default/files/F2016_EnrollmentReport.pdf

  • Uzzell DL (2000) The psycho-spatial dimension of global environmental problems. J Environ Psychol 20:307–318

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van de Mortel TF (2008) Faking it: social desirability response bias in self-report research. Aust J Adv Nurs 25:40

    Google Scholar 

  • Vatovec C, Phillips P, Van Wagoner E, Scott T-M, Furlong E (2016) Investigating dynamic sources of pharmaceuticals: demographic and seasonal use are more important than down-the-drain disposal in wastewater effluent in a University City setting. Sci Total Environ 906–914. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.07.199

  • Whitley E, Ball J (2002) Statistics review 6: nonparametric methods. Crit Care 6:509–513

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Willis GB (2004) Cognitive interviewing: a tool for improving questionnare design. Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, CA

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the participants, Alan Howard, Director of the Statistical Counseling Clinic at the University of Vermont, for his assistance with statistical analysis and Jon Portman, Creative Director and Founding Partner at Oxbow Creative, for his graphic design input. Funding support for this project was generously provided by the Gund Institute for Environment, the Vermont Water Resources and Lake Studies Center, a USGS Water Resources Research Institute and the Rubenstein Graduate Student Association. This study was also supported in part by the University of Vermont Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources, Office of Health Promotion Research, the College of Medicine Division of Hematology/Oncology, Department of Biochemistry, Department of Family Medicine, and Department of Surgery.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources, University of Vermont, 81 Carrigan Dr., Burlington, VT, 05405, USA

    Alexandra Z. Millarhouse

  2. Gund Institute for Environment, University of Vermont, 303 Aiken Center, 81 Carrigan Dr., Burlington, VT, 05405, USA

    Christine Vatovec

  3. Department of Nutrition and Food Sciences, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, University of Vermont, 350 MLS Carrigan Wing, 81 Carrigan Dr., Burlington, VT, 05405, USA

    Meredith T. Niles

  4. Professor of Environmental Thought and Culture, Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources, University of Vermont, 211 Bittersweet House, 153 South Prospect St., Burlington, VT, 05401, USA

    Adrian Ivakhiv

Authors
  1. Alexandra Z. Millarhouse
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Christine Vatovec
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Meredith T. Niles
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Adrian Ivakhiv
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Christine Vatovec.

Ethics declarations

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical Appoval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the University of Vermont Institutional Review Board (14-612) and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Additional information

Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Supplementary information

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Millarhouse, A.Z., Vatovec, C., Niles, M.T. et al. What’s in Your Body of Water? A Pilot Study Using Metaphoric Framing to Reduce the Psychological Distance in Pharmaceutical Pollution Risk Communication. Environmental Management 65, 630–641 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-020-01275-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-020-01275-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation