Social scientists and community advocates have expressed concerns that many social and cultural impacts important to citizens are given insufficient weight by decision makers in public policy decision-making. In two large cross-sectional surveys, we examined public perceptions of a range of social, cultural, health, economic, and environmental impacts. Findings suggest that valued impacts are perceived through an initial lens that highlights both tangibility (how difficult it is to understand, observe, and make changes to an impact) and scope (how broadly an impact applies). Valued impacts thought to be less tangible and narrower in scope were perceived to have less support by both decision makers and the public. Nearly every valued impact was perceived to have more support from the public than from decision makers, with the exception of three economic considerations (revenues, profits, and costs). The results also demonstrate that many valued impacts do not fit neatly into the single-category distinctions typically used as part of impact assessments and cost–benefit analyses. We provide recommendations for practitioners and suggest ways that these results can foster improvements to the quality and defensibility of risk and impact assessments.

社会科学家和社区倡导者表示担心，决策者在公共政策决策中没有充分重视对公民很重要的许多社会和文化影响。在两项大型横断面调查中，我们检查了公众对一系列社会、文化、健康、经济和环境影响的看法。调查结果表明，通过强调有形性（理解、观察和改变影响的难度）和范围（影响的适用范围）的初始视角来感知有价值的影响。被认为不那么有形和范围较窄的有价值的影响被决策者和公众认为得到的支持较少。几乎所有有价值的影响都被认为得到了公众的支持，而不是决策者的支持，除了三个经济方面的考虑（收入、利润和成本）。结果还表明，许多有价值的影响并不完全符合通常用作影响评估和成本效益分析一部分的单一类别区别。我们为从业者提供建议，并建议如何通过这些结果促进风险和影响评估的质量和防御性的改进。