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Why Stay? Why Go? An Examination of Attitudes Towards Risk in Wildfire Evacuation Decision Making

Walpole, Hugh David
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1462444638

Abstract Details

2016, Master of Science, Ohio State University, Environment and Natural Resources.
Although household evacuation is the preferred method in the U.S. for protecting public safety during a wildfire, alternatives such as “staying and defending” have garnered interest due to their increased rates of structure survivability and reduced strain on public safety resources and evacuation routes. Much of the research investigating resident’s intentions to evacuate versus adopt an alternative is focused on describing what behavior people prefer rather than proposing a mechanism to explain how they come to hold those preferences. We propose that residents’ evacuation intentions are a result of a heuristic process based on their pre-existing attitude toward safety versus property risk. We further propose that these attitudes towards risk along with other psychological factors (such as attachment to the home) and hazard characteristics (such as the presence of flames) influence the effectiveness of communication about the risks and benefits of different strategies. Our results support the idea that risk attitudes play a role in shaping risk perceptions of risk mitigation strategies and that attitudes and attachment are important in determining the effectiveness of communication at altering perceptions but find little evidence to support the idea that these factors influence participant’s choices about intended behavior.
Robyn Wilson, PhD (Advisor)
Eric Toman, PhD (Committee Member)
Alia Dietch, PhD (Committee Member)
Jeremy Bruskotter, PhD (Committee Member)
143 p.
Cognitive Psychology; Environmental Studies; Psychology
Wildfire; decision making; evacuation; risk attitudes

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Walpole, H. D. (2016). Why Stay? Why Go? An Examination of Attitudes Towards Risk in Wildfire Evacuation Decision Making [Master's thesis, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1462444638

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Walpole, Hugh. Why Stay? Why Go? An Examination of Attitudes Towards Risk in Wildfire Evacuation Decision Making . 2016. Ohio State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1462444638.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Walpole, Hugh. "Why Stay? Why Go? An Examination of Attitudes Towards Risk in Wildfire Evacuation Decision Making ." Master's thesis, Ohio State University, 2016. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1462444638

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1462444638
260
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This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.