Abstract

Theoretical and empirical evidence suggests that peoples' perceptions of household seismic adjustments, in addition to their perceptions of earthquakes themselves, should predict the likelihood that seismic adjustments are performed. However, little research has been done to address this issue. While recent research has found peoples' perceptions of the effectiveness of household adjustments to influence adjustment levels, people's perceptions of inconvenience of household seismic adjustments - namely the cost, time effort, required cooperation and required knowledge involved in making these adjustments - have been found to not influence seismic adjustment. However, this study did find that the higher the perceived inconveniences of an adjustment, the less likely people are to perform those adjustments. As a second area of investigation, a survey was given to subjects in an understudied risk population (residents living along the Wasatch Fault Line that runs through the state of Utah) to compare Utahns to Washingtonians and Californians. The survey revealed that although California residents have the highest risk perceptions and the most previous earthquake experience, they rank lower than Washington and Utah residents in terms of how much they think, talk, and gather information about earthquakes. Implications of both areas of research are discussed.

Degree

MS

College and Department

Family, Home, and Social Sciences; Psychology

Rights

http://lib.byu.edu/about/copyright/

Date Submitted

2000-12

Document Type

Thesis

Handle

http://hdl.lib.byu.edu/1877/etd7400

Keywords

earthquakes, preparation, seismic adjustment, emergency preparedness

Language

English

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