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Source: http://www.dailytargum.com/universit...tudy-1.1316467
Professor seeks to quantify ?value of life? with study
Adrienne Clark / Correspondent
Updated: Wednesday, January 28, 2009
What is the value of a human life in the eyes of the public? Would you inconvenience yourself today to save the lives of many later on? Is age a factor when considering the value of a life?
University Department of Psychology Chair and Professor Gretchen Chapman poses questions such as these with her research on decision-making, with the assistance of several Graduate School for Applied and Professional Psychology students.
?One of the really interesting areas of the field is moral decision making,? said Chapman, a University of Pennsylvania graduate. ?First, there is the instant emotional reaction, then after the fact, [participants] will think of reasons to support their initial decision, emotion over reasoning, which is backwards.?
Chapman conducted a study to look at how people measure the value of a human life. Computers presented a scenario of 1,000 people potentially dying in bird flu epidemic and gave different demographics that participants could choose whether or not to save.
Participants? ages ranged from young college students to older adults. There were two studies conducted, one with 300 college students and another with 500 adults in a national web survey, Chapman said.
The demographics ranged in age, from 5 to 80 years old, and length of time left for them to live. In another scenario, it was assumed the people to be saved had a pre-existing condition that only gave them two years left to live.
?What we found is that if people have a regular life expectancy in relation to age, people wanted to save the younger, longer-living people,? Chapman said. ?When everyone had two years left, they treated the young and old exactly the same.?
When the scenario was described in terms of lives lost, life expectancy was again a factor, but Chapman found younger people felt saving people of their similar age range was more important, and older people felt saving younger and older people was equally important.
?If a young person dies, it was considered the most tragic,? she said. ?If an old person dies, then people feel it is more acceptable. There?s an egocentric bias.?
Chapman said she would like to see her work be used to help people make decisions more rationally and to study decision making to help people make their lives better or even save the planet, in terms of environmental decision making like electricity use.
Students who have been advised by Chapman, like GSAPP Graduate Assistant Meng Li, a Class of 2011 student, think her work can be applied to everyday decision-making and has the potential for many different practical applications.
?I think the mind is much more interesting to explore than the body,? Li said. ?We know more facts about the body but the mind is still unexplored; behaviors and people are very interesting.?
GSAPP Class of 2008 alumna Alison Phillips, who has worked with Chapman since the summer of 2006, said Chapman helped ignite her curiosity in decision-making.
?She may have felt chagrined for being responsible for sparking my interest in a difficult-to-research area, but she has continued to give her support and show interest in all of my efforts,? Phillips said. ?Dr. Chapman is the type of adviser who gives as much freedom to your research directions as she gives support to your research efforts ? all the while keeping your work scientifically rigorous.?
Professor seeks to quantify ?value of life? with study
Adrienne Clark / Correspondent
Updated: Wednesday, January 28, 2009
What is the value of a human life in the eyes of the public? Would you inconvenience yourself today to save the lives of many later on? Is age a factor when considering the value of a life?
University Department of Psychology Chair and Professor Gretchen Chapman poses questions such as these with her research on decision-making, with the assistance of several Graduate School for Applied and Professional Psychology students.
?One of the really interesting areas of the field is moral decision making,? said Chapman, a University of Pennsylvania graduate. ?First, there is the instant emotional reaction, then after the fact, [participants] will think of reasons to support their initial decision, emotion over reasoning, which is backwards.?
Chapman conducted a study to look at how people measure the value of a human life. Computers presented a scenario of 1,000 people potentially dying in bird flu epidemic and gave different demographics that participants could choose whether or not to save.
Participants? ages ranged from young college students to older adults. There were two studies conducted, one with 300 college students and another with 500 adults in a national web survey, Chapman said.
The demographics ranged in age, from 5 to 80 years old, and length of time left for them to live. In another scenario, it was assumed the people to be saved had a pre-existing condition that only gave them two years left to live.
?What we found is that if people have a regular life expectancy in relation to age, people wanted to save the younger, longer-living people,? Chapman said. ?When everyone had two years left, they treated the young and old exactly the same.?
When the scenario was described in terms of lives lost, life expectancy was again a factor, but Chapman found younger people felt saving people of their similar age range was more important, and older people felt saving younger and older people was equally important.
?If a young person dies, it was considered the most tragic,? she said. ?If an old person dies, then people feel it is more acceptable. There?s an egocentric bias.?
Chapman said she would like to see her work be used to help people make decisions more rationally and to study decision making to help people make their lives better or even save the planet, in terms of environmental decision making like electricity use.
Students who have been advised by Chapman, like GSAPP Graduate Assistant Meng Li, a Class of 2011 student, think her work can be applied to everyday decision-making and has the potential for many different practical applications.
?I think the mind is much more interesting to explore than the body,? Li said. ?We know more facts about the body but the mind is still unexplored; behaviors and people are very interesting.?
GSAPP Class of 2008 alumna Alison Phillips, who has worked with Chapman since the summer of 2006, said Chapman helped ignite her curiosity in decision-making.
?She may have felt chagrined for being responsible for sparking my interest in a difficult-to-research area, but she has continued to give her support and show interest in all of my efforts,? Phillips said. ?Dr. Chapman is the type of adviser who gives as much freedom to your research directions as she gives support to your research efforts ? all the while keeping your work scientifically rigorous.?
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