Effects of equity and empathy on emotional responses around NIMBY: Does unconcern of people in the non-affected area evoke anger among people in the location?

Abstract

Over the propriety of unwanted facility, such as nuclear power plant, waste disposal and treatment facility, or military base, inequity of interests is observed between people in the location versus those in the non-affected area. Negative emotions such as anger or dissatisfaction among people in the location will be evoked much more toward extramural people who are unconcerned to their inequity than toward people who accept the facility unintentionally after perception its inequity. Results of an experiment using scenarios supported this hypothesis. Besides evaluation of inequity of interests, empathy with people in the non-affected area appeared to influence the emotional responses of those in the location. According to the group-value model, the display of sincere concern to the plights of those in the location by the unaffected majority was considered to be an influential factor in which the former perceived respect from the latter. We discussed implications of investigating interactions between these two groups on public decisions regarding these unwanted facilities. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved)