Enbedding and Attitude Theory: An Empirical Test This study will draw from recent developments in attitude theory and survey research to address the embedding program contingent valuation (CV). Conventional wisdom and economic theory assume that people should be willing to pay more for the whole than for just one part of that whole, but empirical CV data show that these expectations are sometimes not fulfilled. This has caused some scholars to question the overall validity of CV. Employing a social psychological perspective, this research considers the contingent values estimated on questionnaires by willingness to pay (WTP) as one component of attitude called behavioral intention (BI). What economists call a `good` is traditionally conceptualized as an `attitude object` by social psychologists. In the literature, several variables have been shown to affect BI (WTP) toward attitude objects: the nature of the attitude object itself (specific vs general), the nature of attitude structure toward the object (many beliefs vs few beliefs), the degree of direct personal experience with the object (high or low), the degree of emotional attachment (high or low), the relationship of the object to self-identity (far or near), and the level of importance/centrality (high or low). In this study, the goal is to specify the variables that influence CV assessments and then test the conditions under which the embedding effect occurs. By tackling the embedding problem, this study will aid in the future design of contingent valuation surveys, particularly those dealing with broad and diffuse attitude objects like ecosystem diversity and regional environmental amenity improvements.
