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Category: Project

Description: This research will test how U.S. public officials use the opinions of prescribed fire council members and lay people when making decisions about prescribed fire measures. We will present vignettes of their prescribed fire risk perception to a sample of county commissioners from the midwestern United States to assess the effect of others’ risk perceptions on decision-making and the level of support for prescribed fires they generate. Also, in line with motivated reasoning theory, we assess how county commissioners’ preconceived opinions affect how they weigh the risk perceptions of others.