UKHLS Consultation Launch, 19/06/07, RSS Preferences, beliefs, attitudes and expectations S C Noah Uhrig Jackie Scott

UKHLS Consultation Launch, 19/06/07, RSS Importance of subjective indicators for understanding: individual development individual and societal wellbeing – both functioning and affect Need to measure: Beliefs, Expectations and outcomes Preferences and realisable opportunities Topics: gender division of labour; ageism and employment; risk aversion in finance or partnership; intolerance and acceptance of others; self-efficacy in areas such as education & health

UKHLS Consultation Launch, 19/06/07, RSS

Issues Can’t be stand alone section – looking to shed light on other areas of behaviour/individual development e.g. family, social networks, employment, standard of living how innovative e.g. hypothetical questions about risk adversity – on cash winnings, on jobs, even on having children; perceived benefits and drawbacks of choices Is it beneficial to replicate items for which we have time-series data/cross-national comparisons from attitudinal surveys (BSA; ISSP; EVS; ESS etc) Dead hand of history versus difficulty of asking questions that aren’t salient (yet!)

UKHLS Consultation Launch, 19/06/07, RSS Themes might include: Preferences of time-use, risk aversion, social contacts, health behaviours etc. Beliefs (and relation to knowledge) concerning domains of relevance, including family choice, employment, health, consumption, social relations etc. Attitudes towards contemporary issues of relevance for individual and household choices Attitudinal precursors and consequences of behavioural changes Values, personality differences, and perceptions of cultural norms that influence life choices Expectations for self, significant others and future societal change

UKHLS Consultation Launch, 19/06/07, RSS Attitudes and Behavioural Inconsistency – it’s the content & form of questions that counts Attitudes and behaviours at aggregate level - little relationship At individual level – change more likely where attitude/behaviour inconsistency Attitude change more likely than behavioural change But without knowing attitude strength/centrality importance of preferences unclear What about dads? Tricky because even-handed norms not salient in work-family responsibilities