CURTAILING MEDICAL INSPECTIONS IN THE FACE OF NEGATIVE CONSEQUENCES

Inspection curtailment is a reduction in checkups in the face of negative consequences of a potential disease. Participants indicated how frequently inspections to detect a given disease should occur. In Experiment 1, the recommended inspection frequency increased regularly with risk (probability) of disease occurrence but was an inverted U-shaped function of disease severity. Experiments 2-4 separated effects of the cost rate (increase in negative consequences with each interval of occult disease) from the fixed cost (unavoidable consequences given even early detection). Increasing the cost rate invariably promoted inspections. Increasing the fixed cost led to reduced inspection frequency when there was little chance of cure and a high cost rate, constituting inspection curtailment. Models to account for inspection curtailment may help to reduce the well-demonstrated everyday undercompliance with health inspection norms.