Retief, FrancoisMorrison-Saunders, AngusGeneletti, DavidePope, Jenny2015-06-092015-06-092013Retief, F. et al. 2013. Exploring the psychology of trade-off decision-making in environmental impact assessment. Impact assessment and project appraisal. 31(1):13-23. [http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/tiap20/current]1461-55171471-5465 (Online)http://hdl.handle.net/10394/13903Dealing with trade-offs lies at the heart of environmental impact assessment (EIA). However, there has been scant reflection to date on the concept of trade-offs within the EIA literature. This paper aims to contribute to the thinking about trade-offs by distilling key learning points from research conducted within the field of psychology. In particular, the paper explores three interrelated questions namely: When are trade-off decisions difficult? How do we react when faced with difficult trade-off decisions? And how can we deal with difficult trade-off decisions? The research confirms that EIA functions within a very difficult trade-off decision-making context and that observed behaviour related to these difficult decisions can be explained from a psychology perspective. In order to deal better with trade-off decisions, it is helpful to be able to predict decision difficulty and anticipate resultant behaviour. Moreover, the way we present and frame decisions affects their outcomes.enEnvironmental impact assessmenttrade-offsdecision-makingconflict in decision-makingpsychologyArticle