`Worldviews, Ethnicity, and Risk Perception ` PI proposes a study of the differences in risk perception among individuals from different ethnic/cultural backgrounds who hold different `worldviews.` The study will use Dake's measure of worldview, self-identification of ethnicity, and Holtgrave and Weber's SCER (Simplified Conjoint Expected Risk) model of risk perception. The basic idea is to use the model to find the locus of ethnic and worldview differences in risk perception. The research plan is to use four ethnic groups (Taiwanese,African-American, Hispanic of Mexican origin, and European-American), and to obtain equal numbers in each ethnic group who most strongly endorse each of three worldviews (authoritarian, egalitarian, and individualistic). Subjects will fill out a risk questionnaire involving financial and health risks. Some of the risks to be judged involve genetic testing, an area of expertise for the PI. There will be two versions of the risk questionnaire: (a) subjects will rate all the theoretical variables for the SCER model for each risk, or (b) subjects will be given values for all the SCER variables for each risk in the form of lotteries. The goal is to determine whether agreement between overall risk rating and the model variables is inflated by the procedure of rating the model variables.
