Psych 458 - Questions to ponder, 4/26/99
Diamond & Hausman, 1993; Sherman, Ahm, Berman, & Lynn, 1978
Diamond & Hausman, 1993:
Note: This article was written for economists, not psychologists, so it contains some unfamiliar concepts. However, in some ways it=s easier to read, because there are no statistics and no complicated details about how studies were run. You might find it helpful to start at the bottom of p. 11 of the chapter and read that section first (through p. 13) and then begin the chapter. Go for an understanding of the main points, and then reread the article to fill in the rest. CV is Acontingent valuation;@ WTP is Awillingness to pay.@
1. What are non-use goods? In what ways are they different from regular market goods? What are the 3 different kinds of value derived from non-use goods that Diamond & Hausman list?
2. How do ethical concerns complicate contingent valuation methods?
3. Describe the contingent valuation (CV) method. Suppose you were trying to figure out how much the university should be budgeting to care for the trees on campus and wanted to know how much students care about these trees -- if you were using CV, how would you go about doing it?
4. How does the controversy around CV echo the discrepancy between attitudes and behavior discussed earlier in class?
5. When think-aloud protocols are used with CV, what are some of the things people talk about? If CV is working as supporters think it is, one critical topic should also be a part of these protocols, but is generally missing. What is this?
6. What
=s the difference between willingness to pay (WTP) and willingness to accept (WTA)? Can you liken this to a framing effect?7. Do actual (as opposed to ideal) CV estimates appear to be value-based or reason-based (refer back to Shafir et al. article for a refresher if you need to) estimates? Justify your answer.
8. What
=s the Awarm glow@ effect? Why is it relevant to CV? How does it link CV with charitable giving? From a normative point of view, should it affect CV estimates?9. Do value estimates of the
Aparts@ equal value estimates of the Awhole@ when using CV? Why?Sherman et al., 1978
1. Sherman et al. discuss two possibilities when it comes to contrast effects: one that is due to shifts in the meaning of responses, and one that requires a perceptual shift. Distinguish between the two. How can we design experiments that will demonstrate which is occurring?
2. How is self-perception theory (remember Plous
=s coverage of this in your text) involved with contrast effects? Under what circumstances do people=s behaviors have the greatest impact on their attitude judgments?3. How is the salience of subjects
= initial attitude ratings manipulated in this study?4. When was recycling seen as a more important issue? Under what circumstances was it seen as a less important issue?
5. Under what circumstances did the contrast effects on rated importance also extend to a behavioral change?
6. Under low salience, was the correlation between rated importance and behavior positive or negative? How do the authors explain this correlation?