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Domain‐based perceptions of risk: a case study of lay and technical community attitudes toward managed aquifer recharge
Author(s) -
Leviston Zoe,
Browne Alison L.,
Greenhill Murni
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/jasp.12079
Subject(s) - groundwater recharge , perception , opposition (politics) , scarcity , psychology , social psychology , public relations , aquifer , political science , engineering , law , economics , groundwater , geotechnical engineering , neuroscience , politics , microeconomics
Despite growing water scarcity, communities in many parts of the developed world often reject technically and economically sound options for water augmentation. This paper reports findings from a study investigating risk perceptions associated with a proposed managed aquifer recharge scheme in A ustralia. Q M ethodology was used to compare decision‐making frameworks of lay community and “technical expert” participants. Technical expert participants were also asked to approximate the decision‐making framework of a “typical” community member. The emerging contrasts between lay community frameworks and those approximated by technical experts suggest that there are prevailing yet errant assumptions about lay community attitudes toward new technologies. The findings challenge the characterization of the lay community and technical experts as being in entrenched opposition with one another.