SGER: Vulnerability Theory and Decision Making

SGER：脆弱性理论与决策

• 批准号: 0346609
• 负责人: Shelley Taylor
• 金额: $ 9.22万
• 依托单位: University of California-Los Angeles
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2004
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2004-01-01 至 2006-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0346609&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SGER; Vulnerability; Theory; Decision; Making

This project focuses on the impact of vulnerability on decision-making. The developing theoretical model predicts that people in vulnerable circumstances (such as concern over terrorist action, financial need, illness) will make decisions in the domain in which they are vulnerable that show several attributes: a preference for action to alter the status-quo to a more beneficial position; a sensitivity to the potential benefits of decision options (more than is true for less vulnerable others); and equivalent sensitivity to the costs of decision options (relative to those lower in vulnerability). This research is exploratory and high risk, because it flies in the face of established conventions regarding decision-making under risky conditions and because it proposes to examine decision-making in at-risk populations. Whether the ideas will merit more extensive grant support can be determined easily through the proposed initial studies. The intellectual significance of the research and its broader impact both derive from the implications for understanding the decision-making processes of vulnerable people and the policies that affect them. For example, when vulnerability to the threat of terrorism is high, people may support what may be risky foreign policies when they believe those policies will have benefits that may reduce vulnerability. When people with health disorders experience a high level of symptoms, they may seek out experimental, even unproven treatments that hold out the lure of benefits, even as they appreciate the substantial costs that may also be entailed. People with few financial resources may be especially susceptible to financial pitches and policies that emphasize good outcomes, leading low income people to be vulnerable to financial schemes that promise high returns in the context of high risk. All of these are significant social and fiscal issues that affect the lives of all people, especially those who are most vulnerable.

这个项目的重点是脆弱性对决策的影响。发展中的理论模型预测，处于脆弱环境中的人(如对恐怖主义行动、经济需求、疾病的担忧)将在他们脆弱的领域做出决定，表现出以下几个特征：倾向于采取行动将现状改变为更有利的地位；对决策选项的潜在好处(比对不那么脆弱的其他人更敏感)的敏感性；以及对决策选项的成本(相对于脆弱性较低的决策选项)的同等敏感性。这项研究是探索性的和高风险的，因为它与关于在高风险条件下决策的既定惯例背道而驰，因为它提议审查高危人群的决策。通过拟议的初步研究，可以很容易地确定这些想法是否值得更广泛的赠款支持。这项研究的学术意义及其更广泛的影响都源于对理解弱势群体决策过程和影响他们的政策的影响。例如，当对恐怖主义威胁的脆弱性很高时，人们可能会支持可能有风险的外交政策，因为他们认为这些政策会带来降低脆弱性的好处。当患有健康障碍的人出现高度症状时，他们可能会寻求实验性的、甚至是未经证实的治疗方法，以保持利益的诱惑，尽管他们意识到可能也会付出巨大的代价。几乎没有财力的人可能特别容易受到强调良好结果的财务宣传和政策的影响，这导致低收入者容易受到在高风险背景下承诺高回报的财务计划的影响。所有这些都是重大的社会和财政问题，影响到所有人的生活，特别是那些最脆弱的人。