Environmental Emotions and Decisions

Abstract

Independent samples of forest managers, members of an environmental group, and a regional public constituency were asked either to respond to a hypothetical forest management problem or to predict how a member of one of the other groups would respond. Decisions and emotions of the environmental group and public sample were similar to each other but both differed from those of the managers. Decisions were predicted accurately by all three groups, but managers and environmental group members perceived the public sample to be less emotional than it actually was. These results are interpreted in terms of a functional model of emotion and environmental decision making, and implications for public involvement programs are discussed.