Using Microcomputer Game-Simulation Experiments to Study Family Response to the Mt. St. Helens Eruptions

Abstract

Computerized game-simulation experiments were conducted as part of a larger study of response to the 1980 eruptions of Mt. St. Helens. Sixty 3-person families from three Washington state communities (experimental group) and 10 families from Minnesota (control group) were studied. Results of the game-simulation indicate that different aspects of individual preferences and family decisions with respect to relocation were (1) highly consistent in the game-simulation, (2) responsive to the simulated threat, and (3) compatible with response data from studies of other actual natural hazards. Family behavior in the game-simulation was strongly related to actual family behavior when the volcano erupted as reported by wives but weakly related to the family behavior as reported by husbands and teenagers. If the wives' reports of family responses to the actual threat of the volcano are more accurate than the husbands' or teenagers', then the data suggest close agreement between the game-simulation behaviors and how the same families responded to the real hazard. The control families showed behavior predictably different from that of the experimental sample in response to the game-simulation. Thus, to the extent that game-simulation experiments tap actual participant experiences, they generate realistic or externally valid responses. Keywords: game-simulation, experiment, decision making, family, disasters, computer.