Piers Fleming

Can experimental measures of sensitivity to social pressure predict public good contribution

Public good contribution in experiments may at least partially be driven by the social demand to contribute that is implicit in them. We consider a questionnaire measure and build a behavioral measure of sensitivity to social pressure based on paired dictator and money burning games; we find that the two are related. The evidence for social demand effects on public good contribution is mixed.

Evaluating authoring tools for teachers as instructional designers

The REDEEM authoring environment was developed to allow educators with no programming knowledge to design learning environments (simple Intelligent Tutoring Systems) for their students in a time-effective manner. The success of this approach depends on two key factors. Firstly, on the extent to which the authoring tool is usable by its intended author population (classroom teachers, university lecturers, adult trainers), and secondly, whether the resulting systems are effective at supporting learning. In this paper, a five year program is reviewed that evaluated the extent to which REDEEM has met these goals. The conclusion of the research is that in many ways REDEEM has exceeded the initial expectations for it, but that improvements to its design could further enhance its functionality.

What type of information is trusted by whom? A multilevel analysis of the stability of the information source-trust association for blood transfusion.

BACKGROUND: It has been suggested that transfusion information from scientific sources (vs. popular sources) is seen as more trustworthy and that interventions should consider using scientific styles. Before such suggestions can be implemented, it is necessary to know if this science source‐trust link is observed across different sociodemographic groups and psychological characteristics. A large‐scale field‐based study examining the importance of sociodemographics and psychological characteristics on the source‐trust link was conducted.

Social Desirability Influences on Judgements of Biotechnology Across the Dimensions of Risk, Ethicality and Naturalness

This study examined the relationship between social desirability and dimensional judgments of risk, naturalness and ethicality for biotechnological and matched natural health technologies. We examine if those who are motivated to respond in a socially‐desirable way will be more likely to rate genetically‐modified (GM) technologies as more risky (less natural or ethical) than those who are not motivated to respond in a socially‐desirable way. One‐hundred and forty‐eight participants rated eight technologies along three dimensions (risk, naturalness and ethicality) and completed a measure of social desirability. The results showed that ethicality was unrelated to social desirability. The dimension of naturalness was related to social desirability regardless of the type of technology. The results further showed that for GM technologies those motivated to respond in a socially desirable way rated these as more risky. Theoretical and methodological implications are drawn from the study.

Perceptions in Transfusion Medicine: A Pilot Field Study on Risk and Ethics for Blood and Blood Substitutes

A pilot study was undertaken in the UK in February 2005 to identify the perceptions of risk, effectiveness and ethicality of different hypothetical transfusion options, including blood substitutes derived from different sources, among young adults. Forty-nine men and 92 women completed the questionnaire, aging between 18 and 25 years old (mean ± standard deviation = 19.7 ± 1.2 years). Twenty-three percent of respondents had donated blood, an average of 3.1 times. The study assessed the perceptions of donor blood versus 3 different types of potential “artificial blood” [i.e. “chemical” (synthetic), “grown from bacteria” (recombinant hemoglobin), or “based on cow blood” (bovine hemoglobin)] on three dimensions, namely risk, effectiveness, and ethicality, each scored on a 1 (least) to 7 (most) Likert-type scale. Donor blood was rated as significantly (P < 0.05) less risky, more effective and more ethical than any of the blood substitutes. The chemical-based blood substitute was rated second least risky, second most effective and second most ethical followed by bacteria grown substitute. The bovine-based blood substitute was rated as significantly riskier, least effective and least ethical. All the blood products differed significantly for perceived ethicality, with donor blood considered as most ethical and a blood substitute derived from bovine blood as least ethical. Judgments of risk correlated negatively with effectiveness (all transfusion options) and ethicality (all the blood substitutes). Overall, these results indicate that donor blood is currently preferred over blood substitutes in the UK and that judgments of risk about different hypothetical transfusion options are related to perceptions of effectiveness and ethicality.

Determinants of Unlawful File Sharing: A Scoping Review

We employ a scoping review methodology to consider and assess the existing evidence on the determinants of unlawful file sharing (UFS) transparently and systematically. Based on the evidence, we build a simple conceptual framework to model the psychological decision to engage in UFS, purchase legally or do nothing. We identify social, moral, experiential, technical, legal and financial utility sources of the decision to purchase or to file share. They interact in complex ways. We consider the strength of evidence within these areas and note patterns of results. There is good evidence for influences on UFS within each of the identified determinants, particularly for self-reported measures, with more behavioral research needed. There are also indications that the reasons for UFS differ across media; more studies exploring media other than music are required.

Expert relevance and the use of context-driven heuristic processes in risk perception

The effectiveness of a medical treatment should not predict its risk (highly effective treatments can be either safe or risky), however, people’s use of heuristic shortcuts may lead them to judge a link between effectiveness and risk, typically a negative correlation. A particular concern is that experts might use such a strategy and that this is unlikely to provide an accurate judgement. This large-scale field-based experiment compares expert-relevant and non-expert-relevant contexts, for both expert and public judgements of risk and effectiveness in the context of blood transfusion medicine. Postal questionnaires were distributed to anaesthetists (experts, N = 123) and a general public (non-expert) comparison group (N = 1153); half of the participants were cued with accompanying general information about genetically-modified (GM) biotechnology and half received specific information about blood product technologies. The blood-focussed information served to emphasise the medical relevance of the questionnaire to the expert group. Regression analyses showed that generally perceived effectiveness predicted perceived risk for both experts and non-experts, which suggests heuristic processing. However, although experts appeared to engage in heuristic processing for risk perceptions in certain circumstances, this processing is strongly affected by context. Experts who received the medically relevant context rated perceptions of effectiveness independently of perceptions of risk, unlike those who received the GM context. This indicates a reduced reliance on a low-effort heuristic for experts given an expertise-relevant context. The results are considered in light of dual-process (rational-associative) accounts of reasoning.

Analogue versus propositional representation in congenitally blind individuals.

Congenitally blind individuals are generally less accurate at mentally manipulating objects than sighted people. However, they often score higher on tests of short- and long-term verbal memory, and it has been suggested that an enhanced propositional representation compensates for inefficiencies in analogue visuospatial representation. Here, congenitally blind, blindfolded, and sighted participants recalled descriptions of relative object locations. In contrast to previous findings, the congenitally blind participants were as accurate as the blindfolded and sighted individuals at remembering the relative locations of objects, but their memory for the verbatim structure of presented descriptions was worse. We propose that, like sighted people, the congenitally blind spontaneously construct and remember analogue representations of object locations and that the performance discrepancies of the blind arise from the process of managing and manipulating these analogue representations.

Does It Matter Which Effort Task You Use? A Comparison of Four Effort Tasks When Agents Compete for a Prize

Effort tasks are commonly used to assess individual investment and performance in an experimental setting. Although the tasks used are diverse, they are typically intended to be equivalent as far as they aim to generalize beyond the specific task. We compare an induced value effort task and three real effort tasks in a contest game. Results show that there is no equivalence across tasks in relation to how risk attitude, anxiety and gender predict performance.

Risk, benefit and moderators of the affect heuristic in a widespread unlawful activity: Evidence from a survey of unlawful file sharing behavior

Increasing the perception of legal risk via publicized litigation and lobbying for copyright law enforcement has had limited success in reducing unlawful content sharing by the public. We consider the extent to which engaging in file sharing online is motivated by the perceived benefits of this activity as opposed to perceived legal risks. Moreover, we explore moderators of the relationship between perceived risk and perceived benefits; namely, trust in industry and legal regulators, and perceived online anonymity. We examine these questions via a large two‐part survey of consumers of music (n = 658) and eBooks (n = 737). We find that perceptions of benefit, but not of legal risk, predict stated file‐sharing behavior. An affect heuristic is employed: as perceived benefit increases, perceived risk falls. This relationship is increased under high regulator and industry trust (which actually increases perceived risk in this study) and low anonymity (which also increases perceived risk). We propose that, given the limited impact of perceived legal risk upon unlawful downloading, it would be better for the media industries to target enhancing the perceived benefit and availability of lawful alternatives.