CURTAILING MEDICAL INSPECTIONS IN THE FACE OF NEGATIVE CONSEQUENCES

Inspection curtailment is a reduction in checkups in the face of negat ive consequences of a potential disease. Participants indicated how fr equently inspections to detect a given disease should occur. In Experi ment 1, the recommended inspection frequency increased regularly with risk (probability) of disease occurrence but was an inverted U-shaped function of disease severity. Experiments 2-4 separated effects of the cost rate (increase in negative consequences with each interval of oc cult disease) from the fixed cost (unavoidable consequences given even early detection). Increasing the cost rate invariably promoted inspec tions. Increasing the fixed cost led to reduced inspection frequency w hen there was little chance of cure and a high cost rate, constituting inspection curtailment. Models to account for inspection curtailment may help to reduce the well-demonstrated everyday undercompliance with health inspection norms.