Why People Like Genetically Engineered Drugs But Do Not Like Genetic Engineering. Anne Brüggemann and Helmut Jungermann, Institut für Psychologie, Technische Universität Berlin Franklinstr. 5-7 (FS 1), 10587 Berlin / Germany, telephone +49 / 30 / 314-23856, fax +49 / 30 / 314-25996, e-mail abr@psych.gp.tu-berlin.de
People seem to have difficulties to form a consistent opinion about biotechnology. They often express negative attitudes when asked about "biotechnology", but they express positive attitudes when asked about specific "applications of biotechnology". This discrepancy is irritating if the specific applications are considered to constitute biotechnology. And it is significant because it raises doubts about the meaning of responses in surveys: When we ask for evaluations of applications, can we infer from the responses an overall opion about biotechnology? And when we ask for overall judgments, what do the responses tell us about the acceptance or rejection of specific biotechnological products?
We assume that evaluations of risks and benefits are influenced by the level of concreteness with which biotechnology is presented. In an empirical study, we distinguished three levels: biotechnology a) "as such", i.e. as a technology, b) as domains of application, e.g. agriculture, and c) as products or effects, e.g. genetically manipulated tomatoes. Benefits were represented by pro-arguments, supposedly more important for the formation of a judgment on the level of concrete products. Risks were represented by contra-arguments, supposedly are more important on an abstract level of presentation than on a concrete level.
99 subjects read statements about biotechnology resp. biotechnological applications, together with pro-arguments and contra-arguments. They evaluated the items on 5-point scales with respect to weight and personal relevance of pros and cons.
The data show the hypothesized relation between the level of concreteness and the importance of risks and benefits, but the relation is domain specific: in the pharmaceutical domain, benefits are more important on the concrete level of presentation, and risks are more important on the abstract level. In the agricultural domain, however, the risks are more important on the concrete level, and benefits are more important on the abstract level.
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