What’s the Benefit? The Influence of Argument Strength and Order Presentation on Judgments About Public Land Use

• In Event: Bias, Cues, Judgment and Decision Making

Abstract

The goal of the present study is to evaluate the extent argument characteristics—specifically, order of exposure, strength, and perspective—contribute to beliefs and judgments about the benefits of public lands’ activities. Despite the large extant body of research, few studies have empirically examined the mechanisms underlying judgments about the controversial use of public lands. In particular, competing human vs. environmental perspectives may differentially influence whether a judgment is read out from existing preferences or constructed online in the mind, and thus more sensitive to contextual factors, such as the order and strength of the arguments. An online experiment was conducted to test study hypotheses.

Authors

• Lorraine Borghetti, Ohio State U

• Brahm deBuys, The Ohio State U

• Zheng (Joyce) Wang, The Ohio State U