Understanding the influence of environmental standards on judgments and choices

This article offers a cognitive account of the means versus ends focus of e nvironmental regulation. The first of two studies suggests that standards ( the means) exert an influence on judgments of proposed environmental soluti ons that is independent of the extent to which those solutions protect the environment (the ends). Standard-based decisions produce cognitive distorti ons, artificially enhancing the attractiveness of standard-conforming solut ions over that of nonconforming solutions. Our second study suggests that " means" solutions tend to be preferred over "ends" solutions when one enviro nmental proposal is examined. This pattern of preference can be reversed th rough the simultaneous evaluation of two proposals.