Countering Fatalism: Causal Information in News Reports Affects Judgments About Earthquake Damage

Abstract

People are less likely to prepare for earthquakes and other disasters if they make fatalistic attributions for earthquake damage. The way that news media and public agencies present information about disasters may contribute to fatalistic attributions and judgments that the damage cannot be prevented. Attribution theory proposes that the distinctiveness and consensus of covarying events shape attributions. Four studies varied the distinctiveness of damage to a target building relative to other buildings and how much other earthquakes had damaged similar buildings to the target building (consensus and consistency). The conditions with high distinctiveness and high consensus and consistency enhanced attributions to building design and judgments that the damage was preventable. These findings have clear implications for civic education agencies and news reports; they show how agencies could reduce fatalism and facilitate preventive action by the way they present information about earthquakes and other disasters.