Stigma models: Testing hypotheses of how images of Nevada are acquired and values are attached to them
- New Mexico Univ., Albuquerque, NM (United States)
This report analyzes data from surveys on the effects that images associated with nuclear power and waste (i.e., nuclear images) have on people`s preference to vacation in Nevada. The analysis was stimulated by a model of imagery and stigma which assumes that information about a potentially hazardous facility generates signals that elicit negative images about the place in which it is located. Individuals give these images negative values (valences) that lessen their desire to vacation, relocate, or retire in that place. The model has been used to argue that the proposed Yucca Mountain high-level nuclear waste repository could elicit images of nuclear waste that would stigmatize Nevada and thus impose substantial economic losses there. This report proposes a revised model that assumes that the acquisition and valuation of images depend on individuals` ideological and cultural predispositions and that the ways in which new images will affect their preferences and behavior partly depend on these predispositions. The report tests these hypotheses: (1) individuals with distinct cultural and ideological predispositions have different propensities for acquiring nuclear images, (2) these people attach different valences to these images, (3) the variations in these valences are important, and (4) the valences of the different categories of images within an individual`s image sets for a place correlate very well. The analysis largely confirms these hypotheses, indicating that the stigma model should be revised to (1) consider the relevant ideological and cultural predispositions of the people who will potentially acquire and attach value to the image, (2) specify the kinds of images that previously attracted people to the host state, and (3) consider interactions between the old and potential new images of the place. 37 refs., 18 figs., 17 tabs.
- Research Organization:
- Argonne National Lab., IL (United States). Decision and Information Sciences Div.; New Mexico Univ., Albuquerque, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-31109-ENG-38
- OSTI ID:
- 60827
- Report Number(s):
- ANL/DIS/TM-17; ON: DE95004985; TRN: AHC29503%%56
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: PBD: Dec 1994
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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