Psychological Aspects The Natural Environment

1
Psychological Aspects The Natural Environment

• Here we go again?
• So what is leisure?
• Perceived freedom
• Deals with psychological aspects
• A person does what she/he does because of a sense
  of freedom

2
Psychological Aspects

• Autotelic Activities
• Activities that are meaningful in and by
  themselves (the activity has inherent meaning)
• Does greater freedom lead to greater leisure?

3
Psychological Aspects

• Beneficial outcome
• Recreation Experience Preference Scale (REP)
• The reason one participates in an activity is for
  the positively valued benefit.
• Seeking/escaping
• Companionship
• Physical fitness
• Etc.

4
Psychological Aspects

• Personality
• continuous dimensions on which individual
  differences can be observed
• In other words, a persons personality may
  influence their leisure choices
• Personality along a continuum

5
Psychological Aspects

• Type T personality
• Thrill seekers
• Have a low physiological arousability
• In other words, it takes a lot to get them
  excited
• Will seek high levels or stimulus
• Small t personality
• Polar opposite of Type T
• Are easily stimulated and do not need high levels
  of stimulation.

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Personality Traits

• Driver and Knopf (1977)
• Personality Research Forum
• Personality traits probably influence choice of
  leisure activity
• Personality variables are related to the amount
  of leisure participation in a certain activity an
  individual has
• Personality traits do influence how important
  certain types of outcomes are for a particular
  recreator

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Environmental Factors

• Experimental aesthetics
• Structural or organizational qualities of the
  natural environment
• How are things arranged
• How neat are they packaged
• How much arousal does a particular environment
  evoke?

8
Environmental Cognition

• How is the environment perceived?
• Environment is a source of information not just
  stimulation?
• Prospect Refuge
• What can this environment tell me?
• Does it contain certain aspects that I find
  desirable
• Too many people
• Not enough people
• Too many scary critters

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Behavioral Ecology

• How do people behave in environments?
• Social
• Environmental
• Work

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Kaplan and Kaplan

• The Experience of Nature
• What is really going on?
• Why are we drawn to nature?
• How do we interpret the environment
• Prospect/Refuge

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How do we process the environment?

• Information Rate
• How much information we can ascertain from a
  given environment
• In a crowded area, there is a lot going on
• In a the natural environment, the information
  rate slows down.

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Environmental Preference

• In the context of natural settings, those with
  human intrusions are less preferred than those
  where nature dominates
• In the wild, we dont like to see human things!!
• Humans respond negatively to both high and low
  information environments

13
Wilderness again!!

• Humans used to see wilderness as a challenge
  (mainly for survival)
• Now it is seen as a challenge recreationally
• Quest for serenity?
• At what point does wilderness travel/experience
  become tranquil or serene?

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Motivation stuff

• What motivates an individual to participate in a
  certain activity?

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Motivation stuff

• Instinct
• The capability to act so as to bring about a
  certain event
• But can instinct be attributed to outdoor
  recreation behavior?
• Surplus energy
• Relaxation theory
• Teological theory
• Recapitulation theory

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Motivation stuff

• Drive
• The attempt to reduce certain needs
• Primary needs
• Those necessary for survival
• Secondary needs
• Those needs which stem from the primary needs
• So what about leisure needs?
• Seeking/escaping, physical exercise etc.

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Motivation stuff

• So what is the purpose in outdoor recreation?
• Relaxation?
• Catharsis?
• Stimulation?

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Leisure needs

• So, what is a leisure need
• Ever changing
• Involves change across situations under which
  needs change from before and after participation
• It is highly individualized (dependent on the
  person and time)

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Maslow
20
Maslow

• So what does this tell us about wilderness
  activities
• Answer, NOT MUCH!
• Why do we study it?
• Because we are supposed to!

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Socialization

• Process by which the culture of the community
  and/or society is instilled in the individual
• Socialization into leisure
• Socialization through leisure

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Socialization

• When does socialization occur?
• Participation as a child
• As an adult?
• Who socializes?
• Family
• Friends
• School

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Socialization

• Primary Groups
• Dyads
• Family
• Peers
• Secondary Groups
• School
• Youth Groups
• YMCA
• BSA, Girl Scouts
• Adult Groups
• Elderhostel
• Clubs

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Demographic Variables

• Life Course
• Gender
• Occupation
• Residence
• Race/Ethnicity

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Life Course
Adulthood
Elderly
Youth
Leisure Participation
Iso-Ahola
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Leisure Age groups

• Preparation phase (birth to early 20s)
• Marked by a need to explore become who we will
  become
• Establishment period (early 20s mid 40s)
• Focus on amassing things establishing ones
  place in the world
• Culmination period
• We reap what we sow

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Gender

• Gender differences are narrowing, but still exist
• Boys play rougher than girls
• Biological or societal?
• Males spend over 6 hours on sports
• Females spend ½ that amount of time
• Females still expected to keep things okay at home

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Occupation

• 1. Manual labor demands more energy
• 2. White collar families have more opportunity to
  travel
• 3. White collar workers are generally more
  educated
• 4. More opportunity for leisure in white collar
  job
• 5. Leisure assumes some form of status

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Residence

• Urban male is more likely to seek solitude than
  rural counterpart
• Seeking/escaping
• Urban dwellers were more active than rural
  residents

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Demographics cont

• 1. Active participation in outdoor recreation
  decreases with age
• 2. Greater participation is witnessed with
  higher income
• 3. Varied participation increases with higher
  occupational prestige
• 4. More participation is observed among rural
  residents
• 5. Less participation is seem by families with
  small children

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Leisure and Ethnicity

• Ones ancestral identity
• Blacks
• Latinos
• Asians
• Native Americans
• There is a difference in leisure based on
  ethnicity
• Latinos in Urban Proximate parks
• Large family gatherings

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Life Style (Need Driven)

• Survivor Life-Style
• Poverty
• Barely Getting by
• Passive recreation (TV)
• Sustainer Life-Style
• Edge of poverty
• Attend spectator sports
• TV
• X-Rated movies (?)

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Life Style (Outer-Directed)

• Belonger Life Style
• Middle class
• At home activities
• Gardening
• (TV)
• Emulator Life-Style
• Over achievers
• Night Clubs
• Eat out
• Achiever Life-Style
• Driven
• Golf/Traveling for pleasure

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Life Style (Inner-Directed)

• I-am-me Life Style
• Inner directed (self-motivated)
• Backpacking
• biking
• Experiential Life-Style
• Seek direct and vivid experiences
• Well Educated
• Movies/backpacking, hiking/biking

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Special Populations

• Persons with disabilities
• Physically challenged
• Mentally Challenged/Ill
• Socially Deviant
• Wilderness Therapy programs
• Adjudicated youth
• Elderly
• Elderhostel's
• Less able to perform certain activities

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Show me the money!!

• Are we a consumptive society as a whole?
• We dont have many need deprivations and
  therefore can consume other wants
• 2/3 of the American output consists of goods and
  services to be consumed by individuals,
  households or groups

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Show me the money!!

• Leisure became a major component of the economic
  system because
• Productivity
• Increased income
• Increased free time
• High level of mobility (especially in the
  generation X)

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Where do we spend our dollars?

• Recreation supplies and equipment
• Travel and Vacation businesses
• Sport and Outdoor Recreation
• Cultural Activities
• Home expenditures

39
Governmental Expenditures

• Federal Level
• Department of Agriculture
• Department of the Interior
• State Level
• Nearly 1 billion spent by states on outdoor
  recreation
• Local
• Between 2.3 3.7 of budget on outdoor rec

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And now for the economics part

• It is estimated that private recreation
  businesses provide nearly seven (7) percent of
  the total employment in the U.S.

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Economic Models

• Visitors Demand
• Recreational resources
  Supply
• Plans and Policies Pricing
• Tool for implementation Management

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Classifying resources (Clausen Knetsch) 1966

• Resource-based areas
• Large, remote natural areas
• Intermediate areas
• Between resource-based areas and user-oriented
  areas
• County and state parks (etc.)
• User-oriented areas
• Areas that are relatively close to urban areas
  and accessible (playgrounds, urban parks)

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The World Conservation Union (IUCN)

• Category Ia Strict nature reserve (protected
  area managed maily for science)
• Category Ib Wilderness area (protected area
  managed mainly for wilderness protection)
• Category II National park (protected area
  managed maily for ecosysten protection and
  recreation)

44
Federal Resources for Recreation

• Department of the Interior
• National Park Service
• (organic act of 1916 established the NPS
• Many classifications within the park system
• About 84 million acres of land

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Federal Resources for Recreation

• National Wilderness Preservation system
• Wilderness Act of 1964
• Wilderness defined
• Humans are visitors
• Outstanding opportunities for solitude and
  unconfined recreation

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Federal Resources for Recreation

• National Wilderness Preservation system
• Nearly 650 units in the system
• About 105 million acres
• Who manages the Wilderness?
• NPS 42
• Forest Service 33
• Fish Wildlife 20
• BLM 5

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Federal Resources for Recreation

• Wild and Scenic Rivers System
• Wild rivers
• Little evidence of human presence
• Generally accessible by trail only
• Scenic Rivers
• Relatively primitive shorelines
• Largely undeveloped
• Accessible by roads and planes
• Recreational rivers
• More development
• May have been dammed

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Federal Resources for Recreation

• National Scenic Trail
• Americas National Scenic trails
• Page 162

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Federal Resources for Recreation

• U.S. Fish Wildlife
• Protect, conserve and enhance the fish wildlife
  and their habitat for the continued benefit of
  people
• National Wildlife Refuge Systems
• A network of federal lands managed specifically
  for wildlife

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Federal Resources for Recreation

• Department of Defense
• U.S. Corps of Engineers
• Maintain more than 12,000 miles of inland
  waterways
• One of the largest providers of water based
  recreation in America

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State Resource and Recreation

• Most states have similar agencies as the federal
  government and provide similar outdoor recreation
  opportunities
• The Tenth Amendment to the Constitution
• the states rights
• Clarified the role of the state vis-à-vis the
  role of the federal government in providing
  services to its residents
• In other words, it gave the states the right to
  provide services the federal government does not

52
State Functions and Recreation

• Enactment of Permissive legislation
• Permissive legislation that allows local public
  bodies to finance and operate services
• First enabling act in recreation was passed in
  1919 in New Jersey
• Service to Local Recreation authorities
• Departments or offices to administer recreation
  services
• Provision of areas, facilities and programs
• Approximately 6 as much land as the federal
  government
• However, it is often closer to the population

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State Functions and Recreation

• Management of Plants and Wildlife
• Protecting rare/endangered species of plan and
  animal
• Often times with help from federal government
• Research and Education
• Social research (that would be me!!!)
• Scientific research (on habitat, critters, etc)
• Promotion of Tourism
• Leading business for some states (Colorado)
• Standards and Regulations
• Establishment of regulations to protect
  recreation participants and resources
• Cooperation with federal agencies
• Working directly with sister agencies at the
  federal level

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State Parks

• Really started in 1921 by the Federal
  Governments desire for states to start their own
  systems
• All states now have some form of State Park
  system
• State comprehensive recreation plan

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State Forests

• Only 4 states do not have state forests
• Kansas, Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska
• Recreation is now a big part of state forests,
  but originally was not a consideration

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Other agencies

• Nature Preserves
• Fish and Wildlife areas
• Total Acreage of outdoor resources by state
• Table 8.3 (pg 190)
• Total expenditures by state
• Table 8.4 (pg 192)

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Tennessees Comprehensive Recreation Plan
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Local Resources and Recreation

• Common gardens
• Established for the good of the people
• Multiple use
• What about conflicting uses?
• Tragedy of the commons

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Local Resources and Recreation

• Enabling Laws
• States giving local governments the ability
  (right) to provide services
• Authorization for local governments to exercise
  certain powers
• To establish a board or agency to administer the
  powers granted
• Joint jurisdiction by multiple agencies (related
  to park administration)
• Financing options (grants, bonds, referendums)

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States of Park Development
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Forms of Local County Government

• Commission Form
• Most dominant form used today
• Governing body elected fulfills both executive
  and legislative function
• Supervisor Form
• Generally governing body is made up of persons
  who were first elected as township supervisors
• Executive Form
• County manager who reports to the county board.

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Forms of Local City Government

• Mayor-Council Type
• Most common and oldest
• Voters vote for a mayor by wards (districts)
  for council
• Commission
• Voters at large vote for the commission which
  performs both legislative and executive functions
• Council-Manager
• Dont worry about it

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Functions of Local Boards/Commissions

• Approves the acts of the departments under its
  jurisdiction
• Acts a court of final appeal
• Advises the superintendent on problems of
  administration
• Interprets the department and the general
  operation of the system to the public

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Functions of Local Boards/Commissions

1. Represents the General Public
2. Represents the department at official occasions
3. Negotiates advantages for the department
4. Appoints standing and ad hoc committees
5. Separates managerial from policy-making
   activities.

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Satisfaction

• Satisfaction the fulfillment of a need, desire,
  or appetite
• Leisure satisfaction
• Derives from an activity which is perceived as
  intrinsically motivated because of a persons
  need to feel a sense of personal causation in his
  or her action
• What is that supposed to mean?

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Satisfaction

• Leisure satisfaction
• Is what every you are doing getting you what you
  need (either felt or expressed)?
• How much does leisure satisfaction affect life
  satisfaction?

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Chapter 9 Partnerships

• Partnerships involve cooperation among public
  agencies, nonprofit organizations, and/or private
  sector enterprises.
• Mechanisms involve long-term binding contracts,
  cooperative agreements, and other agreements
  among partners.

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Roles for each partner

• Public sector land management agency
• Provides expertise, authority, and actual outdoor
  recreation settings. The public agency can also
  provide funding and other resources in many
  cases.
• Nonprofit volunteer organization
• Provides volunteers, resources, expertise, and
  political support
• Private sector sponsor
• Provides funding, other resources, expertise,
  political support and people

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Classic partnership
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Characteristics of Successful Partnerships

• Broad based participation
• Involve entire organizations and individuals from
  these organizations
• Clearly identified roles for all partners
• Ensures everyone knows their part in the mix
• Written agreement
• Formalizing the partnership relationship assures
  there is no confusion about who is responsible
  for what
• Delegation of responsibility to partners
• Having meaningful responsibilities for each
  partner.

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Examples of partnerships

• Appalachian Trail (Appalachian Trail Conference,
  ATC)
• .