Media and Legal Influences on Decision-Making

文化如何影响决策？具体来说，这项研究考察了文化在人们是否以及如何将医疗问题视为法律问题方面所起的作用。揭示媒体和公民与法律社会气候如何影响人们对法律的看法和行为，不仅有助于解释这些类型的文化在塑造人们决策方面的作用，还有助于从业者和活动人士了解媒体何时可以鼓励公民动员他们的权利。此外，这项研究有助于了解法律资源如何转化为健康优势。一个经常被医学社会学家忽视的重要资源是法律援助。在什么情况下，家庭可以求助于法律来帮助解决孩子的医疗问题？研究结果可能会鼓励医学社会学家更多地将法律视为家庭为健康动员的一种额外资源。在选出的四个城市中，每一个城市都反映出不同的特点，私家调查团将采访25个家庭，这些家庭的孩子都经历过同样严重但通常可以预防的医疗伤害（Erb's麻痹，一种臂丛出生损伤），了解他们是否决定对医生采取法律行动。这四个城市在整体公民气候和最近围绕侵权改革倡议的媒体活动的曝光程度方面各不相同。这种媒体可能产生的影响尚不清楚，特别是因为围绕侵权改革倡议中不同利益的信息彼此之间存在紧张关系。原告“贪婪”和“为每个人破坏制度”的信息可能会使人们更不愿意起诉，而“原告通常赢得大笔赔偿”的信息可能会增加人们起诉的可能性。此外，这些信息可能会以不同的方式发挥作用，或者在具有不同社会特征的城市中或多或少地突出。期望个人的决定是由他们的社会背景以及公民、法律和媒体气候的独特组合所塑造的。

How does culture influence decision making? Specifically, this research examines the role that culture plays in whether and how people come to think of medical problems as legal problems. Uncovering how media and the civic and legal social climate influence what people think and what they do when it comes to law not only helps explain the role of these types of culture in shaping people's decisions, but also helps practitioners and activists understand how when the media can encourage citizens to mobilize their rights. Additionally, the study contributes to understanding how legal resources may be translated into health advantages. One crucial resource that is often overlooked by medical sociologists is legal assistance. Under what conditions do families turn to law to help remedy a child's medical problems? Findings may encourage medical sociologists to more routinely consider law as an additional kind of resource that families mobilize for health.In each of four cities selected to reflect distinctive characteristics, the PI will interview 25 families of children who have experienced the same serious, but often preventable , medical injury (Erb's Palsy, a brachial plexus birth injury) about their decisions whether or not to pursue legal action against their doctor. The four cities vary in terms of overall civic climate and extent of exposure to recent media activities surrounding tort reform initiatives. The possible influence of such media is unclear, especially because the messages surrounding different interests in tort reform initiatives are in tension with one another. A message that plaintiffs are "greedy" and "ruining the system for everyone" could make people more reluctant to sue, while a message that "plaintiffs usually win large amounts" may increase people's likelihood of suing. Moreover, these messages may play out differently or have more or less salience in cities with different social characteristics. The expectation is that individuals' decisions are shaped by their social contexts and the unique combinations of civic, legal, and media climates.