Environmental perceptions and attitudes of engineers and public health officials.

Sewell, W. R. Derrick

doi:10.1037/10045-021

Cited by 17 publications

(20 citation statements)

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“…Furthermore, most respondents thought the management was fairly good, and they perceived natural areas, in the study, as managed. However, people, in general, may use different criteria to evaluate landscapes and management than do trained professionals or segments of society sensitized by their particular environmental interests (Sewell 1971). Respondents who identified and thought management was good may be like people who use developed recreation sites and commonly talk about being "in the wilderness."…”

Section: Implications For Research and Managementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing public concern for landscape quality: a potential model to identify visual thresholds

Magill¹

1990

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Considerable public criticism and sometimes legal obstructions have been directed toward landscape management in relation to the extraction of natural resources. Many managers do not understand public concerns for visually attractive resources. Managers need to know when landscape alterations, like clearcuts, attract public attention and become visually objectionable. A study assessed the opinions of groups of people, representing various organizations, using color slides to simulate views of managed and natural landscapes. Of 63 management actions, 43 were not detected by more than half of the people. Only 31 percent of the management actions were reported by 50 percent or more of the respondents, and large, near actions were not reported any more frequently than small ones. A model was prepared to identify visual thresholds where people might first detect an action without knowing what they were seeing, and finally receive enough information for them to identify the action. Small numbers of respondents detected management actions and fewer identified them, but their responses demonstrated the existence of detection and identification thresholds as well as concern for the environment.Retrieval Terms: landscape management, public concern, resource management, sensitivity levels, visual impacts, visual thresholds

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Section: Implications For Research and Managementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing public concern for landscape quality: a potential model to identify visual thresholds

Magill¹

1990

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“…Social system variables represent an important class of antecedent factors in the environmental behavior of decision-makers and their clients (relationship C). For example, Sewell (1970) has identified differences in the environmental orientations and role conceptions of public health officers and water resource engineers, who both participate in the management of water quality. Research may now examine the extent to which the distinctive professional training of the two sets of environmental decision-makers accounts for these differences.…”

mentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Social system variables appear to be implicated here, but it is not clear whether they involve regional differences in professional training or broader regional differences in norms concerning environmental behavior. Further research on the professional training of environmental decision-makers is clearly warranted (Lipman, 1969;Craik, 1969b ;Hertz, 1970;Sewell, 1970). At the nonprofessional level, the institution of the school can play an important role in environmental socialization (Hill and White, 1969;Swan, 1970).…”

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confidence: 98%

“…The goal of this research is to determine the kinds of persons they are, in terms of their environmental dispositions and other personality characteristics, the assumptions about man-environment relations which guide their professional decisions, and the behavioral and social goals they seek through environmental design and management policies (MacKinnon, 1963;Hershberger, 1968;Appleyard, 1969;Baumann, 1969;Hall and MacKinnon, 1969;Hewings, 1969;Sewell, 1970). The extent and implications of differences between their comprehension of the physical environment and that of their clients and colleagues are also being examined (Appleyard, 1969;Sewell, 1970).…”

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confidence: 99%

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An ecological perspective on environmental decision-making

Craik

1972

Hum Ecol

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Current research on environmental decision-makers at the professional and nonprofessional levels is reviewed. The potential utility of this research for achieving more adaptive man-environment relations in modern industrial societies is examined. A broader framework of research is suggested for viewing the antecedents and consequences of environmental decision-making from an ecological perspective. Mechanisms for promoting research on man-environment relations are considered. In particular, issues in the training of scientific man-power in this interdisciplinary fieM are discussed.An increasingly concerted and interdisciplinary effort over the past decade or so has sought to advance our understanding of man-environment relations within the context of modern industrial society. This endeavor obviously possesses intrinsic value and fascination but it also offers some promise of promoting more enlightened policies and practices within such fields as architecture, urban planning, transportation engineering, conservation, natural resources management, and environmental education.The adjustment of a society to its physical environment is a dynamic process that represents the cumulative and interactive effect of multifarious decisions by its individual members. It is commonly asserted that in pre-industrial societies environmental decision-making, concerning the design of structures (Alexander, 1964) and the management of natural resources (Kates,

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“…In 1971, Sewell and Burton [1971] outlined the role of research on attitudes and perceptions in resource management, stressing its importance for clarifying values and predicting behavior. Additional work by Sewell underscored the relevance of perceptions and attitudes of technical experts [Sewell, 1971] and the potential role of attitudinal research in early public involvement efforts [Sewell, 1974].…”

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confidence: 99%

Public perceptions regarding water quality and attitudes toward water conservation in the lower Fraser Basin

McDaniels¹,

Axelrod²,

Cavanagh³

1998

Water Resources Research

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Abstract. This paper concerns public judgments regarding water quality, public attitudes about water conservation, and related issues in the Lower Fraser Basin of southwest British Columbia, Canada. A written survey was administered to 183 lay subjects in four communities within the Lower Fraser Basin. The results show that subjects generally perceive water quality in specific water bodies as worse than indicated in technical studies of those water bodies. Respondents also indicated a high willingness to engage in water conservation activities. Discussion and conclusions complete the paper. IntroductionBritish Columbia, a vast and rugged province on the west coast of Canada, is likely perceived as a region endowed with abundant, high-quality water. Yet, the British Columbia Round The focus of this paper is on (1) public judgments regarding the water quality of nine specific water bodies, (2) attitudes about water conservation, and (3) attitudes toward water management issues in the Lower Fraser Basin of southwestern British Columbia (Figure 1). This ecologically diverse region has, over the last century, become increasingly dominated by human activities. The 1997 population of the Lower Fraser Basin, which includes greater Vancouver, was over 1.8 million people. The region is ideal for human settlement because of flat lands, a beautiful setting, easy access to natural resources, rich agricultural soils, a mild climate, and abundant water supplies. The region continues to experience one of Canada's highest population growth rates. Such growth will inevitably appropriate growing volumes of water for domestic use and pose increasing risks to water quality.As part of an interdisciplinary research program concerned with the sustainability of the Lower Fraser Basin, we conducted research to clarify public perceptions of the state of the The purpose of this paper is to clarify the current perceptions of a lay sample regarding water quality in an environmentally important urban area and to compare these views to available technical information and views of technical experts. In the process, we hope to clarify points that may be relevant for understanding lay perceptions of water quality in other urban locations. We also explore the relationship between perceptions of water quality and propensity to engage in water conservation activities, and other related attitudes regarding water resources. Method RespondentsRespondents in the study were 102 women and 81 men,

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Environmental perceptions and attitudes of engineers and public health officials.

Cited by 17 publications

References 1 publication

Assessing public concern for landscape quality: a potential model to identify visual thresholds

Assessing public concern for landscape quality: a potential model to identify visual thresholds

An ecological perspective on environmental decision-making

Public perceptions regarding water quality and attitudes toward water conservation in the lower Fraser Basin

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