Robert D. Bixler

Nature is Scary, Disgusting, and Uncomfortable

The relationships between fear expectancy, disgust sensitivity, desire for modem comforts, and preference for wildland and built environments and related activiffes were examined. Using a population of predominantly suburban and rural eighth-grade students (n =450), all three variables were found to be significantly related to preferences for wildland environments, recreational activifies, and vocational preferences. Those with high fear expectancy, disgust sensitivity, and desire for modem comforts were more likely to prefer manicured park settings and urban environments and to dislike wildland environments. They were also more likely to prefer indoor social recreation activities and express significantly less interest in future careers working in outdoor environments. Finally, they were less likely to prefer appropnate water bodies for conductng an aquatic entomology lab. Studying negative perceptions may complement existing environmental preference research, which has tended to focus on why people prefer certain environments.

Environmental Socialization Quantitative Tests of the Childhood Play Hypothesis

Two studies with adolescent youth (N = 1,376, N = 450) help clarify the relationship between childhood play experiences in wild environments and later environmental preferences in the life domains of work, leisure, and school. Respondents reporting having played in wild environments had more positive perceptions of natural environments, outdoor recreation activities, and future indoor/outdoor occupational environments. No significant differences were found for preferences for environmental sciences activities conducted in schools. Results suggest that childhood play in wildland environments is related to environmental competencies and preferences but not necessarily an intellectual interest in environmental sciences or environmentalism.

Experience use history, place bonding and resource substitution of trout anglers during recreation engagements.

Experience use history (EUH) was hypothesized to be linked to recreational place bonding and resource substitution behavior. Trout anglers (n = 203) of two Trout Unlimited chapters were surveyed (response rate = 71%) for EUH, place bonding, and resource substitution. Four classifications (Beginners, Visitors, Locals, and Veterans) of EUH were formed, a 26-item scale was rated to form five dimensions of place bonding (Familiarity, Belongingness, Identity, Dependence, and Rootedness), and number of alternative equivalent streams recorded as resource substitutes. The EUH classifications were shown to be linked to different types and degree of place bonding, and to a lesser degree, with substitution behavior among trout anglers. Veterans and Locals had higher degrees of place bonding, while Veterans and Visitors had the highest degree of substitution behavior.

Place bonding for recreation places: conceptual and empirical development.

Abstract Place bonding is a common phenomenon in many recreation areas, where people develop an affective and cognitive based attachment to special resource settings. Conceptually, place bonding is fairly well understood; empirically it is less so. In this study, a five dimensional orientation to place bonding of trout anglers for a wild and scenic stream was conceptually and empirically developed. The dimensions of place familiarity, belongingness, identity, dependence, and rootedness were examined by having respondents (n = 203) rate a 26‐item scale of recreation place bonding. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses produced a five‐dimension solution to place bonding. The five‐dimensional model was examined for convergent validity and predictive validity, with the latter predicting 75% of variance in an overall measure of place bonding. Research and management implications are discussed for recreation resource place bonding.

Hands On or Hands Off? Disgust Sensitivity and Preference for Environmental Education Activities.

Abstract Detailed descriptions of barriers to environmental education (EE) can provide opportunities for educators to foresee potential problems in programs. High disgust sensitivity is an intrapersonal barrier that constrains preference for learning opportunities involving manipulation of some organic materials. Middle school students in Texas (N = 450) completed a science activity preference scale and a disgust-sensitivity scale. Respondents who expressed the lowest interest in activities that required manipulation of organic substances also had the highest disgust-sensitivity scores. However, no differences were found among students for activities that required observation only. Using a photographic scale, students rated their preference for lake shore environments as places to conduct an aquatic entomology study. Students with high disgust sensitivity were significantly more likely to prefer the poorer locations, which were characterized by clear water and no algae or submerged objects. The addition o...

Childhood Play and Environmental Interests: Panacea or Snake Oil?

Both wildland recreationists and conservationists report that wildland childhood play is an important socialization experience. However, researchers know little about the details of play experiences during the formative childhood years. In this article, the authors describe the content and physical and social components of childhood play as recalled by 51 young adults involved in serious leisure and environmental professions related to natural history and a contrast group of 10 adults not participating in natural history activities. On the basis of their interviews, the authors identified stationary and exploratory play, social facilitation of play, play away from the home restricted only by distance, fantasy play, creative play, gaming play, searching and trapping play, and play interspersed with outdoor chores. The authors distinguish between playing with nature and playing with friends within nature and discuss the implications for further research and environmental education programming.

Children's Role in Meaning Making Through Their Participation in an Environmental Education Program

The authors conducted an ethnography investigating childrens lived experiences in a 3-day residential environmental education (EE) program with 20 gifted 4th- and 5th-grade students. The authors also conducted participant observation and a series of interviews before, during, and after the trip. After the authors conducted the interviews and collected other data, they conducted analyses that identified domains describing the childrens lived experience with a residential EE program (J. P. Spradley, 1979). Through domain analysis, a theme emerged: Childrens nonformal environmental-learning experience is negotiated through the feeling of having choices and enhanced through sensory perception and personal relationships. Explicit recognition of the importance of informal social interactions, unstructured time and play, and perception of choice has potential to enhance the meaningfulness of residential EE programs.

Experience Use History and Relationship to the Importance of Substitute Stream Attributes

Members of two Trout Unlimited Chapters associated with the Chattooga National Wild and Scenic River (South Carolina, Georgia) completed mail surveys (n = 292, 71% response rate) of experience use history with local substitute streams, number of substitute streams for the Chattooga, and importance ratings for stream and fishing attributes. About 65% of anglers had three or fewer substitute streams; nearly 15% had seven or more that were equivalent in fishing to the Chattooga. Anglers were experienced with alternative streams, averaging 17 years of use and 21 fishing trips in the last 12 months. Anglers with the most experience (long term, frequent users) at fishing substitute streams rated the stream/fishing attributes the highest; short term, frequent anglers rated the attributes second highest in importance. Experience use history, however, had limited statistical effects on substitution attribute perceptions. Possible explanations for these results are discussed, particularly the lack of specificity of alternative stream attributes.

Volunteers as Products of a Zoo Conservation Education Program

Zoos embrace docents/volunteers as a means of interpreting the threats to wildlife and biodiversity to visitors. To accomplish this, zoos provide docents’ education, training, and work experience. Docents themselves also engage in solitary and social wildlife experiences outside of their volunteer obligations. This study examined what motivates docents and how they change as part of their experience. Results from a mailback questionnaire (91% response rate, n = 365) documented that both altruistic (interpreting wildlife to visitors) and egoistic (learning about wildlife themselves; socializing with like-minded others) motivations were predictive of continuing satisfaction with their volunteer experiences. Docents also reported starting or increasing many conservation behaviors after beginning to volunteer at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo. Docents with more years of experience tended to report more involvement with conservation behaviors. Results support an environmental socialization framework to explain the impacts of an environmental training program. Implications for future research and practice are presented.

Beautiful Bugs, Bothersome Bugs, and FUN Bugs: Examining Human Interactions with Insects and Other Arthropods

ABSTRACT Because the ostensible majority of incidental human–insect (and other arthropods) interactions are negative, any interest in non-pretty “bugs” appears to be inherently demotivated. Three complementary studies explored US college students’ perceptions, knowledge, and experiences of insects to better understand folk classifications and to identify potentially new ways to present them to motivate human interest. Study 1, an open-ended survey (n = 236), found that knowledge of insects is limited to a mean of 13 insects. Of these 13 insects, most were also dichotomized as liked (beautiful bugs) or disliked (bothersome bugs). The second study, using semi-structured interviews (n = 60), revealed similar categories as found in the first study, providing further details about positive and negative perceptions of, attitudes to, and types of experiences people have with, insects and other closely related arthropods. The last study (n = 200) used a paired forced-choice scale with 10 silhouettes of insects and related arthropods to replicate and expand the findings from the first two studies. This study tested whether respondents would report interest in novel and unknown arthropods over commonly known and preferred ones. The results indicate little knowledge of the diversity of insects among a young, elite, middle-class sample of college students and the existence of two robust but small folk categories of insects/arthropods (beautiful, bothersome). Results from the third study indicated there is a group of potentially fascinating unfamiliar (FUN) insects/arthropods/bugs that could evoke interest if people were simply exposed to them. Implications for informal recreation and educational programming and a research agenda are presented.