Louie Rivers

Win Some, Lose Some: The Effect of Chronic Losses on Decision Making Under Risk

Losses, including those that are chronic in nature, are a fact of life. The research reported here was designed to examine, using a controlled experiment, the effect of chronic losses in a given contextual domain on subsequent decisions with uncertain outcomes that take place in the same and in unrelated domains. Randomly selected adult subjects who took part in the experiment were randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups: One group, chronic losers, was exposed to chronic financial losses as part of a controlled, multi‐round gambling simulation. Groups two and three were exposed to chronic wins and random outcomes, respectively, as part of the same gambling simulation. Results from the experiment revealed that chronic losses, in contrast to random outcomes and chronic wins, had clear effects on decision making in the domain where the initial losses were incurred. Subjects who were exposed to the chronic loss induction demonstrated a significantly higher level of risk aversion when compared with subjects who were exposed to either random outcomes or chronic wins. Subjects exposed to chronic losses also displayed a depressed affective state and a tendency to accept less as an outcome of future decisions, and still consider it to be a satisfactory result, when compared to subjects in the two control conditions. There appears to be no spillover, however, of a similar degree of risk aversion when considering similar kinds of decisions in unrelated contextual domains. These results seem consistent with prospect theory and the theory of learned helplessness, and have implications for risk communication and management in a variety of contexts.

Mental Model of the Drug Market Intervention

Recent years have witnessed the growth of the so-called “pulling-levers” approach to reducing gang and gun violence, and more recently, to eliminate overt drug markets. Research has indicated promising results, at least in terms of impact at a community level, yet much remains to be known about the theoretical foundation of these interventions. The current research utilizes an approach developed in the cognitive sciences to examine these theoretical foundations. Specifically, the “mental models” approach to developing graphical representations of how people know, perceive, make decisions, and construct behavior is applied to the drug market intervention strategy as originally developed in High Point, North Carolina. In-depth interviews were conducted with police officials, social service providers, and community partners to better understand how this strategy was developed and what these “experts” believe are the foundation of the strategy. The findings indicate a complex logic model undergirding the strategy with multiple theoretical components.

A Routine Activities Analysis of White‐Collar Crime in Carbon Markets

Scholars recently called for increased analysis of opportunity structures that produce white‐collar crimes in legitimate business systems. In the current research, we use mental models, a tool from cognitive psychology, to describe opportunity structures for white‐collar crime in the European Emissions Trading System, the largest carbon market in the world. Specifically, we use routine activities theory to describe the convergence of motivated offenders and suitable targets in the absence of capable guardians in different parts of the system. Implications for utilizing routine activities theory to understand and address crime in carbon markets are discussed.

Conservation criminology and the global trade in electronic waste: Applying a multi-disciplinary research framework

The global trade in electronic waste destined for recycling, disposal or reuse (E-waste) poses a significant risk to human health and the natural environment from improper recycling and disposal. However, in part due to the lack of regulatory attention, few empirical studies of this issue exist. In this paper, we fill this knowledge gap by applying a conservation criminology framework to E-waste. Specifically, we draw on criminology and criminal justice, natural-resources management, and risk and decision sciences to describe the nature of the trade, relevant stakeholders, and current interventions. Our initial step is to develop a more holistic picture of E-waste and identify knowledge gaps for future research, working toward building theoretical explanations necessary for effective policy development. Through this work, we hope to demonstrate the importance of, and the steps involved in, using this multi-disciplinary framework to examine and address complex environmental and social problems.

Applying a conservation-criminology framework to common-pool natural-resource issues

Protection and management of common-pool natural resources are an international focus of government agencies and nongovernmental organizations. There is concern that an emphasis on protection has inadvertently led to the disenfranchisement of local stakeholders by prohibiting access to natural resources that they have traditionally relied upon. Management of these resources by state actors without local input has exacerbated the social and economic marginalization of poor and/or minority populations, leading to traditional interactions with natural resources being labeled as deviant or criminal. The complex nature of this issue, which lies at the nexus of natural-resource management, criminology and risk, makes it difficult to explore using a disciplinary view. The theoretical concept of conservation criminology is well suited to serve as a framework for this wicked problem. We examine the strain between resource management, environmental protection and local stakeholders’ rights via a case study (Abalone fishery in South Africa) using conservation criminology as a theoretical structure.