Drivers of social acceptance of natural-resource management: A comparison of the public and professionals in California

The social impacts of natural resource management are challenging to evaluate because their perceived benefits and costs vary across stakeholder groups. Nevertheless, ensuring social acceptance is essential to building public support for adaptive measures required for the sustainable management of ecosystems in a warming climate. Based on surveys with both members of the public and natural-resource professionals in California, we applied structural-equation modeling to examine how psychological factors impact individuals' attitudes toward management's capacity to reduce the impacts of disturbance events, including wildfires, smoke from wildfires, drought, water shortages, tree mortality, and utility failure. We found the members of the public more optimistic than natural-resource professionals, perceiving management capacity to be on average 3.04 points higher (of 10) and displaying higher levels of trust of the government on both the state (Δ = 11%) and federal levels (Δ = 19%). Personal experience with natural-resource events had a positive effect on perceived management in both the public (1.26) and the professional samples (5.05), whereas perceived future risk had a negative effect within both samples (professional = -0.91, public = -0.45). In addition, higher trust and perceived management effectiveness were also linked with higher perceptions of management capacity in the public sample (1.81 versus 1.24), which could affect the acceptance of management actions. Continued social acceptance in a period of increasing risk may depend on managers sharing personal experiences and risk perception when communicating with the public. The contemporary shift toward multibenefit aims is an important part of that message.

Spillover effects of anti-sugar-sweetened beverage messages: From consumption decisions to policy preferences

BACKGROUND

Intake of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) is associated with many negative health outcomes. Efforts to curb consumption generally take one of two approaches: (a) Individual change based on the communication of personal risk information or (b) policies that limit or disincentivize the behavior, such as restricting access or implementing taxes.

METHODS AND RESULTS

Using samples of 2347 persons and 139 pro- and anti-SSB messages, this study tested whether individual-level persuasion attempts would spill over to voting intentions and whether that spillover would amplify or attenuate policy preferences. The influence of anti-SSB messages was seen in (a) direct, positive effects on intention to vote for restrictive policies and in (b) indirect, positive effects where change in intended consumption mediated message impact on change in voting intentions. Anti-SSB messages were generally more powerful than pro-SSB advertising at producing direct and indirect change. Yet, there was evidence of boomerang effects among small numbers of both SSB drinkers and nondrinkers.

CONCLUSIONS

Anti-SSB messages that target individual consumption bring about intentions to reduce consumption and increased receptivity to restrictive SSB policies.

A Brief Intervention on E-Cigarette, Regular Cigarette, and Marijuana Use Results in Generalization Effects: Lateral Attitude Change among College Students

OBJECTIVE

We hypothesized (1) perceived harm beliefs and intention to use e-cigarette attitudes will become more negative post-exposure to the intervention (2) this change will generalize to more negative beliefs and intention toward regular cigarettes and marijuana.

METHODS

MANOVAs of students' perceptions of harm beliefs and intention toward the use of e-cigarettes and regular cigarettes, and marijuana were performed to ascertain change in harm beliefs before (t₁) to after the intervention (t₂) for 188 nonwhite Hispanic and White college students who viewed educational material (informational text + video), the intervention, during an online experimental survey.

RESULTS

The first MANOVA yielded main effect with significant differences for substances, Wilks' Lambda (Λ) = 0.254, F = 234.920 (2, 160), p < 0.001, η_p² =0.746 and by time (Λ = 0.740, F = 56.684 (1, 161), p < 0.001, η_p² = 0.260). E-cigarettes, regular cigarettes, and marijuana were perceived more harmful for one's health and for the health of others at t₂. The MANOVA on peer influence and intention to use (Λ = 0.277, F = 222.890 (2, 171), p < 0.001), η_p² = 0.723) and by time (Λ = 0.922, F = 14.514 (1, 172), p < 0.001), η_p² = 0.078) was significant. Respondents were less likely to use any of the substances if their best friend offered at t_2. Intent for future use was also reduced at t₂.

CONCLUSION

A brief intervention potentiated favorable change in harm beliefs and intention to focal object (e-cigarettes) and lateral objects (regular cigarettes and marijuana).

The Psychology of Moral Conviction

This review covers theory and research on the psychological characteristics and consequences of attitudes that are experienced as moral convictions, that is, attitudes that people perceive as grounded in a fundamental distinction between right and wrong. Morally convicted attitudes represent something psychologically distinct from other constructs (e.g., strong but nonmoral attitudes or religious beliefs), are perceived as universally and objectively true, and are comparatively immune to authority or peer influence. Variance in moral conviction also predicts important social and political consequences. Stronger moral conviction about a given attitude object, for example, is associated with greater intolerance of attitude dissimilarity, resistance to procedural solutions for conflict about that issue, and increased political engagement and volunteerism in that attitude domain. Finally, we review recent research that explores the processes that lead to attitude moralization; we integrate these efforts and conclude with a new domain theory of attitude moralization.