On assuaging positive bias in environmental value elicitation

Abstract

Research has consistently shown that the process of eliciting environmental values is fraught with potential pitfalls that can produce biased estimates. The present research focused on how to preclude one such pitfall, overvaluation of a focal environmental entity, in light of the psychological processes that have been recently shown to underlie this bias. Analysis of a survey of respondents’ valuations of environmental entities demonstrated focal entity overvaluation, and that specifying alternatives to a focal entity was not sufficient to preclude positive bias. Only when respondents were required to provide valuations of multiple entities were much more moderate, less biased, valuations obtained. The implication of this research is that when the value of an environmental entity is assessed, respondents should be asked to provide valuations of the target entity as well as other intra-category alternatives so that positive bias is ameliorated.