The influence of attitude priming and social responsibility on the valuation of environmental public goods using paired comparisons

Determining the value of an environmental public good, such as litigation over oil-spill damage to a beach, is an abstract and difficult task. Integration of economics and psychology enabled the study of how social responsibility and persuasive priming influenced the valuations of environmental public goods. Research participants were 460 university students randomly assigned to one of six combinations of social responsibility and either a negative, neutral, or positive priming editorial about the environment. Participants completed an interactive computer program in which the items were either environmental public goads (e.g., wildlife refuge, clean air) private goods of known market value (e.g., $15 meal, $500 airline ticket) or sums of money ranging from $1 to $9000. Results indicated the values derived for the environmental public goods were higher when participants had sole responsibility for the group outcome, but were not affected by priming editorials, although the editorials affected subsequent attitudes.