Impressions of preparing and intentions to prepare for a hurricane in the United States

Abstract

When faced with the potential threat of an extreme weather event, such as a hurricane, people must make important decisions about how much, if it all, they will prepare for that event. Many factors may influence people's decisions to prepare or not prepare – including social factors. In three studies among predominately White, female, and affluent online samples (total N = 784), we tested whether social factors—in particular, impressions of others and impression management concerns—predicted participant's intentions to prepare for two real hurricanes and one hypothetical hurricane. We use Integrative Data Analysis (IDA) to examine pooled results from the three studies. Results revealed two important sets of findings. First, the actions people take to prepare (or not prepare) during a hurricane influenced participants impressions. For example, participants tended to view making errors in preparation (i.e., over- or under-preparing) more negatively, with under-preparing facing the highest level of scrutiny. Second, impressions (particularly impressions of others under- or over-preparing) predicted actual preparation intentions and behavior. Results have important implications for the better understanding the social nature of decision-making and for potential intervention.