Using “Cultural Cognition” to Predict Environmental Risk Perceptions in a Florida Water-Supply Planning Process

Abstract

There have been important recent advances in cultural cognition theory, a theory of the cultural rootedness of risk perception. However, to date, research on cultural cognition has focused only on general public samples, not participants in stakeholder planning processes. Using original data from a survey of stakeholders in a water-supply planning process in Florida, this article evaluates the efficacy and role of cultural cognition theory compared to other social antecedents of risk perception often used in sociological studies, including the New Environmental Paradigm (NEP) and organizational affiliation. The article (1) increases empirical understanding of the predictive utility of cultural cognition among resource management stakeholders; (2) evaluates cultural cognition's direct and indirect effects on risk perception; and (3) discusses implications for the management of stakeholder processes.