The comparative approach to protective behavior

We examined the determinants of protective behavior against health, safety, and environmental risks. Subjects answered questions about the extent to which they engaged in each of several protective behaviors (PBs), the badness of the event that each behavior protects against, its probability, the effectiveness of the behavior, and its difficulty. We also assessed worry about the risk and effectiveness of the PB in reducing worry. We predicted PBs from within-subject multiple regression on these measures, as well as from multiple regression using the means across subjects. Worry reduction and difficulty played a large role in predicting behavior. We defined individual rationality in terms of the predictability of behavior from all relevant variables. Subjects varied considerably in rationality and in which behaviors were rational for them to undertake. Such a comparative approach to the assessment of individual rationality of protective behavior, using several risks rather than one at a time, permits the discovery of inconsistencies, and it might lead to interventions designed to increase people’s adoption of more cost-effective behaviors.