Natural Connections: New Strategies for Measuring Connectedness with Nature Wesley Schultz...

Natural Connections: New Strategies for Measuring Connectedness with Nature

Wesley SchultzCalifornia State University

Presentation prepared for Society of Human Ecology, Bar Harbor, Maine. Address correspondences to: Wesley Schultz, Department of Psychology, California State University, San Marcos, CA, 92078. [email protected]. (760) 750-8045.

October 19, 2006

Carol SaundersBrookfield Zoo

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Natural Connections: New Strategies for Measuring Connectedness with Nature

Wesley SchultzCalifornia State University

Presentation prepared for Society of Human Ecology, Bar Harbor, Maine. Address correspondences to: Wesley Schultz, Department of Psychology, California State University, San Marcos, CA, 92078. [email protected]. (760) 750-8045.

October 19, 2006

Carol SaundersBrookfield Zoo

Acknowledgements Coral Bruni, Karelle Jones, Randie Chance,

Jeremy Bowlin, Wes Mouw Publications related to this line of inquiry:

Schultz, P. W., Tabanico, J., & Tilos, R., & Adams, C. (in press). Self, identity, and the natural environment. Journal of Applied Social Psychology.

Oskamp, S., & Schultz, P. W. (2005). Attitudes and opinions (3rd ed.). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. Schultz, P. W., Shriver, C., Tabanico, J., & Khazian, A. (2004). Implicit connections with nature.

Journal of Environmental Psychology, 24,31-42. Schultz, P. W. (2002). Inclusion with nature: Understanding the psychology of human-nature

interactions. In P. Schmuck, & P. W. Schultz, The psychology of sustainable development. New York: Kluwer.

Schultz, P. W. (2000). Empathizing with nature: The effects of perspective-taking on concern for environmental issues. Journal of Social Issues, 56, 391-406.

Environmental Attitudes Environmental attitudes--the evaluative beliefs

(affect) and behavioral intentions a person holds regarding environmentally related activities or issues. “I favor opening the Alaskan Arctic Wildlife Refuge

for oil exploration” Environmental concern--affect or worry associated

with environmental problems. One component of environmental attitudes “How much does each of the following environmental

problems worry you…” E.g., Water pollution, global warming, depletion of natural

resources, biodiversity, habitat destruction

Environmental Attitudes Environmental values--the reasons why a person is

concerned about environmental problems. Egoistic--focus on self Social-altruistic--focus on other people Biospheric--focus on plants and animals

Biospheric concerns are positively correlated with environmental behavior

Egoistic concerns negatively correlated with environmental behavior

What leads a person to value nature versus valuing self?

So Why do People Value Nature? Environmental literature is replete with

references to “inclusion” Humans are a part of nature, versus,

humans are separate from nature. I am a part of nature, or I am separate

from nature This belief is “primitive” and generally

“implicit”

The Inclusion Model

BiosphericMotives

EgoisticMotive

Behavior

+

+

Separate from nature

Connectedto nature

Rational Choice

Psychological Inclusion

A Psychological Model of Inclusion

Inclusion--An individual’s beliefs about the extent to which s/he is part of the natural environment.

Cognitive--connectedness between self and nature

Affective--the extent to which an individual cares about plants and animals

Behavioral--an individual’s commitment to act in ways that benefit the natural environment.

Measuring Connectedness

Inclusion of Nature in Self (Schultz, 2001) Connectedness to Nature Scale (Mayer &

Frantz, 2004) Environmental identity (Clayton & Opotow,

2003) New Ecological Paradigm (Dunlap et al.,

2000) Others being developed

Implicit Connections with Nature

Implicit Association Test (IAT) Greenwald et al. (1998, 2003) Categorization task Response latencies Compatible and incompatible trials Details previously published (Schultz et

al., 2004, 2005, in press; Bruni et al., 2006)

Balanced Identity Designs (Greenwald et al., 2003)

Self

Evaluation Attribute or Group

Self-

este

em

Self-concept

Attitude

Balanced Identity Designs (Greenwald et al., 2003)

Self

Evaluation Attribute or Group

Self-

este

em

Self-concept

Attitude

Self-Nature Associations

FlexiTwins Game On-line or stand-alone game, incorporating IAT principles Provides scores of Implicit Connections with Nature Possible use with

children Incorporated into a

longitudinal study



FlexiTwins Game Game used and validated with adult samples (Schultz & Bruni, forthcoming) Good reliability and test-retest Evidence for validity Current project designed to examine usefulness with children Pilot testing for forthcoming longitudinal study



FlexiTwins Game Participants: 30 grade school children, ages 10-12 (5th grade) Materials: several self-report measures of environmental attitudes, flexitwins game,

in-person interview, peer-ratings, teacher ratings, daily dairy, picture of favorite place Procedure: tested individually in classroom. On-line survey, in-person interview, play

game (twice)



FlexiTwins Game



NATURE BUILT ME NOT ME

Waterfall Church (name) (random)

Flower Chair (picture) (random)

Tree Car

Mountain Truck

Note: Stimuli derived from a card sorting task with kids at the Brookfield Zoo. Selected items were those that were most consistently classified by 10-year-olds as “natural” or “built.”

Results

FlexiTwins test-retest = .62



Flexi Twins D total Score Time 2

1.381.25

1.131.00

.88.75

.63.50

.38.25

.130.00

8

6

4

2

0

Std. Dev = .37 Mean = .64N = 30.00

Results Children very high on connectedness (mean=.64) For comparison:

California college students (.38 to .44 across six studies) Sample of visitors from San Diego Zoo (.45) Environmental activists (.62)



Results Correlates with implicit connectedness

Explicit concerns (not significant) Expected pattern, but not significant

Gender: boys less connected than girls Caring for plants or animals (not significant) Number of hours watching TV (r=-.41) Number of hours playing video games (r=-.45)



Results

Correlates with implicit connectedness Time spent playing inside (r=-.36) Time spent playing outside (not significant) “Is there a person in your life who encourages you to spend time in nature.” Yes (.70), no

(.49)



Discussion Current data used as pilot test for forthcoming longitudinal study “accelerated longitudinal design” Measuring kids at age 10, 12, 14, 16, 18 Yearly measures for four years What to include?

Open for comment and discussion What factors lead to connectedness? What consequences does connectedness have on later-life decisions?



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