Abstract
What are people’s attitudes toward societal issues involving technology? How do they form attitudes about such issues? How do they perceive the constituent benefits and risks associated with these complex problems? Of what salience does familiarity and personal impact have on their attitudes and perceptions? These questions were investigated via a psychometric survey involving 10 such politically sensitive issues, e.g., genetic research, nuclear energy, the use of saccharin. Data collected included the perceived economic, environmental, physical, and psychological risks and benefits associated with each of these issues. Multiattribute utility models were developed to predict and represent aggregated perceived risks, benefits, and attitudes regarding these issues. The results of the study should provide policy makers and researchers with a better understanding of the factors the public considers important in making societal decisions involving technology and the cognitive processes employed in formulating an overall social attitude or preference regarding such issues.
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Bajgier, S.M., Bartell, A., Moskowitz, H., Whinston, A.B. (1978). Multiattribute Risk/Benefit Analysis of Citizen Attitudes Towards Societal Issues Involving Technology. In: Zionts, S. (eds) Multiple Criteria Problem Solving. Lecture Notes in Economics and Mathematical Systems, vol 155. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-46368-6_21
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-46368-6_21
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
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