Action tendencies and characteristics of environmental risks

It is assumed that the mental representation of the causal structure of env ironmental risks, i.e., the type of cause and the type of potential consequ ence, determines which sort of action tendencies are formed. We propose a m odel of risk evaluation that includes consequentialist and deontological ju dgments as well as specific emotions as mediators of action tendencies. Fou r hundred participants took part in an experiment which presented scenario information about environmental risks. The scenarios differed with respect to (a) causation (human vs. natural cause; single vs. aggregate causation), (b) consequence (harm to self vs. harm to other people vs. harm to nature) , and (c) geographical distance (proximate vs. distant). Participants indic ated how much they preferred each of 31 prospective behaviors. Factor analy ses yielded five types of action tendencies: help, aggression, escape, poli tical action, and self-focus. The causal structure of the risks was systema tically related to action tendencies, e.g., environmental risks that are ca used by humans, and in particular those caused by a single human agent, eli cit aggressive action tendencies. The findings confirm that the perceived c ausal structure of a specific risk determines whether the focus is upon con sequentialist or deontological judgments, which, in turn, elicit specific t ypes of action tendency, mediated by emotions. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B. V. All rights reserved. PsycINFO classification: 3030; 4070.