Institute for Social Science Research, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia.
School of Medicine, Griffith University, Gold Coast Campus, Queensland 4222, Australia.
Water Res. 2014 Sep 15;61:86-96. doi: 10.1016/j.watres.2014.05.002. Epub 2014 May 13.
In spite of the clear need to address water security through sourcing new and alternative water supplies, there has been marked resistance from some communities to the introduction of recycled water for potable use. The present studies tested the effectiveness of providing relatively brief information about the recycled water process and the safety of recycled water on cognitive, emotional and behavioral responses. Three information conditions (basic information or basic information plus information about pollutants in the water, or information that puts the risk of chemicals in the water in perspective) were compared to a no information control condition. Across three experiments there was general support for the hypothesis that providing information would result in more positive cognitive, emotional, and behavioral responses to recycled water. Information increased comfort with potable recycled water and, in general, participants in the information conditions expressed more positive emotions (Experiment 1 & 3), less negative emotions (Experiment 3), more support (Experiment 1 & 3), and lower risk perceptions (Experiment 1 & 3) than those in the no information control condition. Participants who received information also drank more recycled water than control participants (Experiment 1 & 2, although the differences between conditions was not statistically significant) and were significantly more likely to vote in favor of the introduction of a recycled water scheme (Experiment 3). There was evidence, however, that providing information about the level of pollutants in recycled water may lead to ambivalent responses.
尽管通过寻找新的和替代的水源来解决水安全问题的需求非常明确，但一些社区对引入可饮用的再生水表示强烈抵制。本研究测试了提供有关再生水过程和再生水安全性的相对简短信息对认知、情感和行为反应的有效性。将三种信息条件（基本信息或基本信息加水中污染物信息，或使水中化学物质风险具有现实意义的信息）与无信息对照条件进行了比较。在三个实验中，普遍支持提供信息将导致对再生水产生更积极的认知、情感和行为反应的假设。信息增加了对可饮用再生水的舒适度，并且一般来说，信息条件下的参与者比无信息对照条件下的参与者表达了更积极的情绪（实验 1 和 3）、更少的负面情绪（实验 3）、更多的支持（实验 1 和 3）以及更低的风险感知（实验 1 和 3）。与对照组相比，接受信息的参与者也饮用了更多的再生水（实验 1 和 2，尽管条件之间的差异没有统计学意义），并且更有可能投票支持引入再生水计划（实验 3）。然而，有证据表明，提供有关再生水中污染物水平的信息可能会导致矛盾的反应。
