Directory

Melissa L. Finucane

Senior Fellow

PhD, Psychology, University of Western Australia

Email: FinucanM@EastWestCenter.org
Phone: 808-944-7254
Fax: 808-944-7298
Research Interests: Cognitive, emotional, and socio-psychological factors affecting human judgment and decision making; the role of cultural values in the perception of environmental, health, and financial risks; the role of feedback in coupled natural systems and responses to environmental and health risks; risk communication; and aging and decision competence.

Dr. Finucane is a noted researcher in the field of human judgment, decision making, and risk perception. Her work attempts to clarify the mechanisms underlying human judgment and decision processes. Blending an applied focus on real-world problems with an interest in basic psychological experimentation, Dr. Finucane concentrates on adapting existing paradigms and developing new methods to make the study of subtle decision processes more tractable. Dr. Finucane has extensive experience in the operationalization of various dimensions of decision processes and the development and implementation of measures of subjective representations of risk. Her research has involved participants across the adult lifespan with diverse cultural backgrounds. Using qualitative and quantitative methods, Dr. Finucane has developed several questionnaire instruments and a computer-based tool for assessing perceptions of risk and how they relate to specific decision abilities and individual differences in mental models of risk and socio-cultural values regarding the uptake of new technologies. Funding for this work has come from the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and other agencies and organizations.

Dr. Finucane's current research interests focus on understanding judgment and decision-making by citizens and policy makers about environmental and health risks such as climate change and avian influenza in the Asia-Pacific region.

Dr. Finucane received an M.Psych. and a Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Western Australia in 1997. During 1997-2001, she worked as a Research Scientist with Drs. Paul Slovic, Terre Satterfield, Ellen Peters, Robin Gregory, and others at Decision Research, Eugene, Oregon. In 2001, Dr. Finucane moved to Honolulu, Hawai'i, to work as a Research Investigator at the Center for Health Research Hawai'i. In 2007, Dr. Finucane joined the Research Program at the East-West Center, working primarily with the Environmental Change, Vulnerability, and Governance group. She is a member of the Society for Risk Analysis and the Society for Judgment and Decision Making. Dr. Finucane has published in numerous journals, including: Journal of Behavioral Decision Making; Risk Analysis; Journal of Risk Research; Social Science and Medicine; Health, Risk and Society; The Contemporary Pacific; Psychology and Aging; Journal of Environmental Management; and others.

Dr. Finucane's curriculum vitae is available in pdf format.

Publications

In Press

Finucane, M.L. (in press). Emotion, affect, and risk communication with older adults: Challenges and opportunities. Journal of Risk Research.

Finucane, M.L. & McMullen, C.K. (in press). Making Diabetes Self-Management Education Culturally Relevant for Filipino Americans in Hawaii. The Diabetes Educator .

2008

MacGregor, D.G., Finucane,M.L., & Gonzalez-Caban, A. (2008). The effects of risk perception and adaptation on health and safety interventions. In Martin, W.E., Raish, C. & Kent, B. (Eds.), Wildfire Risk: Human Perceptions and Management Implications (pp. 142-155). Washington, DC: Resources for the Future.

2007

Williams, A.E., Vogt, T.M., Stevens, V.J., Albright, C.A., Nigg, C.R., Meenan, R.T., Finucane, M.L. (2007). Work, Weight, and Wellness: The 3W Program.A Worksite Obesity Prevention and Intervention Trial. Obesity. 15: 16S-26S.

2006

Finucane, M.L. & Holup, J.L. (2006). Risk as value: Combining affect and analysis in risk judgments. Journal of Risk Research, 9(2), 141-164.

Slovic, P., Finucane, M.L., Peters, E., MacGregor, D. (2006). The Affect Heuristic. In S. Lichtenstein & P. Slovic (Eds.), The Construction of Preference. pp. 434-453. New York: Cambridge University Press. (This chapter is an abridged and revised version of a chapter that appeared in T. Gilovich, D. Griffin, & D. Kahneman (Eds.), Intuitive judgment: Heuristics and biases. 2002 pp. 397-420. New York: Cambridge University Press.)

2005

Finucane, M.L. (2005). An unfolding story: Risk, narrative valuation, and the global biotechnology debate. In J. Persson (Ed.), Risk och det levande mänskliga. Stockholm, Sweden: Nya Doxa, 79-101.

Finucane, M.L. & Holup, J.L. (2005). Psychosocial and cultural factors affecting the perceived risk of genetically modified food: An overview of the literature. Social Science and Medicine, 60, 1603-1612.

Finucane, M.L. & Lees, N.B. (2005). Decision-Making Competence of Older Adults: Models and Methods. Report for the National Research Council Workshop on Decision Making by Older Adults, Washington, DC.

Finucane, M.L., Mertz, C.K., Slovic, P., & Schmidt, E.S. (2005). Task complexity and older adults' decision-making competence. Journal of Psychology and Aging, 20(1), 71-84.

Finucane, M.L. & Satterfield, T. (2005). Risk as narrative values: A theoretical framework for facilitating the biotechnology debate. International Journal of Biotechnology, 7(1-3), 128-146.

Gutrich, J., Donovan, D., Finucane, M.L., Focht, W., Hitzhusen, F., Manopimoke, S., et al. (2005). Science in the public process of ecosystem management: Lessons from Hawaii, Southeast Asia, Africa and the US Mainland. Journal of Environmental Management, 70, 197-209.

Mouchawar, J., Hensley-Alford, S., Laurion, S., Ellis, J., Kulchak-Rahm, A., Finucane, M.L., Meenan, R., Axell, L., Pollack, R., Ritzwoller, D. (2005). Impact of direct-to-consumer advertising for hereditary breast cancer testing on genetic services at a managed care organization: A naturally-occurring experiment. Genetics in Medicine. 7(3):191-197.

Slovic, P., Peters, E., Finucane, M.L., MacGregor, D. (2005). Affect, risk and decision making. Health Psychology, 24(4),S35-40.

2004

Finucane, M.L. (2004). The psychology of risk judgments and decisions. In N. Cromar, S. Cameron, & H. Fallowfield (Eds.), Environmental Health in Australia and New Zealand (pp.142-155). New York: Oxford University Press.

Ritzwoller, D.P., Meenan, R., Mouchawar, J., Ellis, J., Alford, S.H., Finucane, M.L., & Rahm, A.K. (2004). Willingness to pay for hereditary breast cancer testing: Variation by exposure to Direct-to-Consumer advertising. The American Journal of Managed Care, 10(9),649. [Published Abstract.]

Roberts, M., Haami, B., Benton, R., Satterfield, T., Finucane, M.L., Henare, M., Henare, M. (2004). Whakapapa as a Māori mental construct: Some implications for debate over genetic modification of organisms. The Contemporary Pacific, 16(1), 1-28.

Savadori, L., Savio, S. Nicotra, E., Rumiati, R., Finucane, M.L., & Slovic, P. (2004).Expert and public perception of risk from biotechnology. Risk Analysis, 24(5),1289-1299.

Slovic, P., Finucane, M.L., Peters, E., & MacGregor, D. (2004). Risk as analysis and risk as feelings: Some thoughts about affect, reason, risk, and rationality. Risk Analysis, 24(2), 1-12.

2003

Finucane, M.L., Peters, E., & Slovic, P. (2003). Judgment and decision making: The dance of affect and reason. In Schneider, S. L. & Shanteau, J. (Eds.), Emerging perspectives on judgment and decision research (pp. 327-364). New York: Cambridge University Press.

2002

Finucane, M.L. (2002). Mad cows, mad corn, and mad communities: The role of socio-cultural factors in the perceived risk of genetically-modified food. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society, 61, 31-37.

Finucane, M.L. (2002). Mad cows, mad corn, and mad money: Applying what we know about the perceived risk of technologies to the perceived risk of securities. Journal of Psychology and Financial Markets, 3(4), 236-243.

Finucane, M.L., Slovic, P., Hibbard, J., Peters, E., Mertz, C.K., MacGregor, D.G., & Tusler, M. (2002). Aging and decision-making competence: An analysis of comprehension and consistency skills in health-plan decision making. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 15, 141-164.

Hibbard, J., Slovic, P., Peters, E., & Finucane, M.L. (2002). Strategies for reporting health plan performance information to consumers: Evidence from controlled studies. Health Services Research, 37, 291-313.

Slovic, P., Finucane, M.L., Peters, E., & MacGregor, D.G. (2002). The affect heuristic.In T. Gilovich, D. Griffin, & D. Kahneman (Eds.), Intuitive judgment: Heuristics and biases. pp. 397-420. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Slovic, P., Finucane, M.L., Peters, E., & MacGregor, D. (2002). Rational actors or rational fools? Implications of the affect heuristic for behavioral economics. The Journal of Socio-Economics, 3, 329-342.

2001

Finucane, M.L. (2001). What psycho-social factors affect the perceived risk of securities? Investment Review, p. 4-5, 7.

Hibbard, J.H., Peters, E.M., Slovic, P., & Finucane, M.L. (2001). Making Health Care Report Cards Easier to Use. The Joint Commission Journal on Quality Improvement, 27, 591-604.

Hibbard, J.H., Slovic, P., Peters, E., Finucane, M.L., & Tusler, M. (2001). Is the informed-consumer approach appropriate for Medicare beneficiaries? Health Affairs, 20(3), 199-203.

2000

Finucane, M.L. (2000). Improving quarantine risk communication: Understanding public risk perceptions. Decision Research Report No. 00-7, Eugene, OR.

Finucane, M.L., Alhakami, A., Slovic, P., & Johnson, S.M. (2000). The affect heuristic in judgments of risks and benefits. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 13, 1-17.

Finucane, M.L., Slovic, P., & Mertz, C.K. (2000). Public perception of the risk of blood transfusion. Transfusion, 40, 1017-1022.

Finucane, M.L., Slovic, P., Mertz, C.K., Flynn, J., & Satterfield, T.A. (2000). Gender, race, and perceived risk:The "white male" effect.Health, Risk, & Society, 2, 159-172.

Peters, E., Finucane, M.L., MacGregor, D.G., & Slovic, P. (2000). The bearable lightness of aging: Judgment and decision processes in older adults. In National Research Council, Committee on Future Directions for Cognitive Research on Aging, P.C. Stern & L.L. Carstensen (Eds.), The aging mind: Opportunities in cognitive research (Appendix C, pp. 144-165). Washington, DC: National Academy Press.

1999

Finucane, M.L. (1999) Fear of flying: Why is the public's perception of the risk of air travel out of step with facts? Flight Safety. 3-63.

Finucane, M.L. (1999). Public perceptions of risk. The Skeptic, 19(2), 8-9, 16.

Finucane, M.L. & Slovic, P. (1999). Risk and the white male: A perspective on perspectives. Framtider, 18(1), 24‑29. [Published in Swedish with the title of "Riskbedomning och social kontrol"].

1998

Milech, D. & Finucane, M.L. (1998). Decision support and behavioral decision theory. In K. Kirsner, C. Speelman, M. Maybery, A. O'Brien-Malone, M. Anderson, & C. MacLeod (Eds.), Implicit and explicit mental processes (pp. 291-307). London: Erlbaum.

1997

Finucane, M.L. (1997). Risk perception and decision strategies. Doctoral dissertation, University of Western Australia.

Finucane, M.L., Milech, D., & Maybery, M.T. (1997). Tailoring decision support to individual users. Australian Psychologist, 32, 164-170.

Related Publications

Why Science Alone Won't Solve the Climate Crisis: Managing Climate Risks in the Pacific

Related Research Projects

Coupled Natural-Human Systems and Emerging Infectious Diseases