Public responses to drinking recycled water: the effect of affect and social identity

The sustainability of water in Australia continues to be a pressing concern for governments and scientists alike. Viable alternative water schemes such as recycled water have been implemented for limited use in Australia, but policy-makers continue to experience difficulties in garnering public acceptance to introduce recycled water for drinking. The present study examined whether emotional framing and the source of the message impacted the attitudes of Australian citizens (N = 208) towards drinking recycled water, using the affect heuristic and social identity theory as framework. Participants were presented with images and emotive language which directed their attention to either the source or the outcome of recycled water to elicit negative or positive affect, respectively. Social identity was manipulated by first making salient participants’ identities as Australians, and then attributing provided information to either Australian scientists or scientists. A hanging control group was included. The dependent variables of acceptance, risk perceptions, benefit perceptions and dread were measured. Consistent with the affect heuristic, positive affective framing led to more positive attitudes towards recycled water. The predicted interaction did not emerge, although participants who identified strongly as Australians felt less acceptance towards drinking recycled water, perceived more risks, and perceived less benefits when positively framed information was attributed to Australian scientists. Potential explanations for these findings and future avenues of research are explored