The Influence of Past Experience on Wilderness Choice

Abstract

A study of Southern Appalachian backcountry hikers tested the hypothesis that recreationists with high experience levels would have greater differentiation of site attribute values when making recreation choices than would individuals with low experience. Contrary to cognitive development theory. a simulated laboratory choice study found that more experienced subjects employed fewer and broader attribute value categories that did their less experienced counterparts. This surprising finding might be explained by the nature of the judgment task. Cognitive development theory suggests that greater experience leads to greater perceptual distinction along a range of attribute values, but social judgment theory suggests fewer attitudinal or preference distinctions along the range of attribute values with increased involvement with the issue or object. Leisure planners, managers, and programmers must decide what type of judgment they are asking recreationists to make when they attempt to influence choice through provision of information.

How well are outdoor recreationists represented in forest land-use planning?

“…Watson et al (1991) suggest that sensitivity to conflict increases with recreation specialization. Specialization can be linked to the degree of recreation experience that an individual has.…”

Outdoor recreation participation in BC forest-dependent communities

“…A prior understanding of recreation use characteristics in planning areas is required in order to identify the appropriate representatives for recreation interests, and to identify where planning emphasis may lie for recreation interests. For example, Watson et al (1991) argue that as people's involvement in recreation increases (indicated by characteristics such as length and frequency of participation, degree of centrality and skill), so too does their sensitivity to conflict, displacement from preferred locations, and feelings of dissatisfaction with recreation management.…”

Environmental Attitudes and Desired Social-Psychological Benefits of Off-Highway Vehicle Users

“…The most common method has been to split recreationists into high/low frequency and length categories based on either researcher defined cut-points [31] or median splits [23,43]. Other methods include independent analysis of the length and frequency measures [22,44], and a one-dimensional operationalization comprised solely of the number of years a recreationist has visited an area [24].…”

“…Typically, prior experience is utilized as a tool by which within activity differences can be analyzed regarding a variety of dependent variables such as site choice [21,22] or place attachment [23,24]. Segmenting users according to prior experience is usually completed based upon recreationists' total number of previous visits to an area, total length of time visiting an area, and/or their frequency of visitation to an area or similar areas [15,25,26].…”