Public Support for Biodiversity After a Zoo Visit: Environmental Concern, Conservation Knowledge, and Self‐Efficacy

Clayton, Susan; Prévot, Anne-Caroline; Germain, Laurent; Saint-Jalme, Michel

doi:10.1111/cura.12188

Cited by 50 publications

(55 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…common urban birds) in addition to the presented wildlife (Colléony et al 2017). In a third study (Clayton et al 2017b), zoo visitors scored higher on biodiversity concern and knowledge at the end of the visit than at the start, consistent with the findings reported by Moss et al (2015).…”

Section: Developing Connection and Care For Nature In The Zoosupporting

confidence: 78%

“…Social interactions surrounding zoo animals are opportunities to create and communicate shared emotional experiences and values. It is important to recognize that experiences of nature are a process, socially facilitated (or discouraged), mediated, and interpreted (Clayton et al 2017b). Thus, the impact of a zoo visit is determined not only by the visitor's exposure to animals but by a social context that directs attention toward particular features, encourages conversation among the visitors, and endows the animals with socially-sanctioned value.…”

Section: Developing Connection and Care For Nature In The Zoomentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Visitors declared having felt more positive than negative emotions when exiting the zoo. However, the entertainment and educational aspects of the zoo can be mutually supporting: positive emotions were more reported by visitors who said they had learnt more (Clayton et al 2017b).…”

Section: Developing Connection and Care For Nature In The Zoomentioning

confidence: 99%

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Large carnivores and zoos as catalysts for engaging the public in the protection of biodiversity

Consorte-McCrea¹,

Fernández²,

Bainbridge³

et al. 2019

Self Cite

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Addressing the biodiversity crisis requires renewed collaborative approaches. Large carnivores are ambassador species, and as such they can aid the protection of a wide range of species, including evolutionarily distinct and threatened ones, while being popular for conservation marketing. However, conflicts between carnivores and people present a considerable challenge to biodiversity conservation. Our cross disciplinary essay brings together original research to discuss key issues in the conservation of large carnivores as keystone species for biodiversity rich, healthy ecosystems. Our findings suggest the need to promote coexistence through challenging ‘wilderness’ myths; to consider coexistence/conflict as a continuum; to include varied interest groups in decision making; to address fear through positive mediated experiences, and to explore further partnerships with zoos. As wide-reaching institutions visited by over 700 million people/year worldwide, zoos combine knowledge, emotion and social context creating ideal conditions for the development of care towards nature, pro-environmental behaviors and long-term connections between visitors and carnivores. Based on current research, we provide evidence that large carnivores and zoos are both powerful catalysts for public engagement with biodiversity conservation, recognizing barriers and suggesting future ways to collaborate to address biodiversity loss.

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Section: Developing Connection and Care For Nature In The Zoosupporting

confidence: 78%

Section: Developing Connection and Care For Nature In The Zoomentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Large carnivores and zoos as catalysts for engaging the public in the protection of biodiversity

Consorte-McCrea¹,

Fernández²,

Bainbridge³

et al. 2019

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Psychologists, similarly, may protest the sparseness of our self-efficacy measures. Self-efficacy phenomena, and related constructs, are multi-step and the subject of scores of studies [ 64 , 65 ]. Our instrument characterizes self-efficacy using four items, thus reducing its complexity to make measurement manageable.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The importance of culture in predicting environmental behavior in middle school students on Hawaiʻi Island

2018

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Researchers have investigated the factors that influence environmental behavior for decades. Two often-investigated phenomena, connectedness to nature and self-efficacy, often correlate with environmental behavior, yet researchers rarely analyze those correlations along with underlying cultural factors. We suggest that this is a substantial oversight and hypothesize that cultural factors affect environmental behavior, particularly through an interplay with the connectedness to nature and self-efficacy constructs. To test this hypothesis, we surveyed eighth-grade students on the island of Hawaiʻi. The instrument included items to assess connectedness to nature and self-efficacy (both frequently measured in environmental behavior studies) and multiple measures of behavior. Most of the behavior measures are commonly used in studies of environmental behavior, and one was developed in collaboration with local partners to reflect more culturally specific modes of environmental behavior. With those partners, we also developed a construct reflecting the relevance of local culture. We explored the relative influence of the more commonly investigated constructs (connectedness to nature, behavioral variables) along with the newer construct (cultural relevance). We found that, when we took those considerations into account, cultural relevance significantly predicted connectedness to nature, self-efficacy, and a commonly used behavioral measure. Our results thus suggest that many models of environmental behavior may be misspecified when they omit critical culture- and ethnicity-related factors. This may be particularly important in contexts with high cultural, racial, and ethnic diversity or in contexts where mainstream Western environmental approaches are non-dominant. Our results emphasize the importance of addressing ethnicity and culture in environmental thought and action.

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“…Zoo visitors are a prime audience for being engaged about wildlife, conservation issues, and actions they can take to help (Mann, Ballantyne, & Packer, ; Skibins, Dunstan, & Pahlow, ). Zoos have been found to increase knowledge of biodiversity, emotional connections and concern about the environment, as well as their visitors' understanding of resultant conservation behaviors and their perceived self‐efficacy around these actions (Clayton, Prevot, Germain, & Saint‐Jalme, ; Grajal et al, ). Unlike other conservation organizations with remote audiences who subscribe as members, donate, or receive newsletters, zoos have the potential to amplify conservation messages and mobilize their millions of visitors via conservation behavior change strategies.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Maximizing biodiversity conservation through behavior change strategies

Maynard

Monroe

Jacobson

et al. 2020

Conservat Sci and Prac

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Most modern threats to biodiversity are due to human actions. Conservation psychology models provide tools to strategically change human behaviors to reduce these threats; however, behavior change theories have yet to be fully incorporated into conservation strategic planning techniques. The public that may be interested in a conservation issue are often untapped resources to expand a conservation organization's limited reach. Increased public participation could fill a gap between an organization's objectives and the scope of what is feasible for limited staff or budget. This study presents an expanded framework for biodiversity conservation strategic planning using conservation behaviors. Some conservation organizations, such as zoos and aquariums, have access to extensive audiences that could be mobilized to take-action to directly reduce threats to biodiversity or indirectly support others' efforts. To test our expanded planning framework, we evaluated the current status of conservation behavior change techniques used by zoos, which are increasingly identifying as conservation organizations. We used the framework to measure whether zoos are providing conservation behavior opportunities to their audiences of millions. The framework consisting of 12 behaviors nested within five categories includes behaviors in the public and private spheres. We tested the framework using content analyses of 211 zoo's websites across North America, sampled from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. The methods elicited 2,187 conservation projects for the sample, only 32% of which provided any form of conservation behavior change opportunities to the zoo audiences. We present the range and frequency of conservation behavior strategies in zoos, revealing their current strengths as conservation organizations and opportunities for improved audience activation. The results demonstrate the value of integrating the conservation behavior change framework into biodiversity conservation strategic planning for conservation

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Public Support for Biodiversity After a Zoo Visit: Environmental Concern, Conservation Knowledge, and Self‐Efficacy

Cited by 50 publications

References 25 publications

Large carnivores and zoos as catalysts for engaging the public in the protection of biodiversity

Large carnivores and zoos as catalysts for engaging the public in the protection of biodiversity

The importance of culture in predicting environmental behavior in middle school students on Hawaiʻi Island

Maximizing biodiversity conservation through behavior change strategies

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