Nottebom, Janne (2022) Can Zoos Use Educational Information to Increase Visitors’ Pro-Conservation Behavior Intentions Through Animal Connectedness? Bachelor thesis, Psychology.
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Abstract
Biodiversity loss is an ever-increasing and human-inflicted problem that humans have to target collectively. Zoos can do their part by educating their visitors about the need for more pro-conservation measures and sustainable behavior. This study evaluated the relationship between education and pro-environmental behavior intentions, with a potential moderating effect of animal connectedness, building on a growing body of prior research on pro- environmental intentions and behavior. In contrast to entertainment-focused educational information, it was expected that sustainability-focused educational information would result in increased pro-conservation behavior intentions and that animal connectedness would strengthen this relation. Participants in three conditions (sustainability-focused, entertainment- focused and control condition) were measured using an online questionnaire and educational videos in a between-groups experimental design. However, this paper merely compares the sustainability-focused with the entertainment-focused condition. A simple linear regression with a sample size of 301 was conducted. The results were not in line with the prediction that pro-conservation behavior intentions are higher associated with sustainability-focused than entertainment-focused information. Also, the prediction that animal connectedness moderates the effect of education on pro-conservation behavior intentions was not supported either. The findings suggest that solely education did not suffice to predict a change in behavior intentions. Therefore, zoos should provide visitors with emotionally salient information to provoke pro-conservation behavior intentions. Finally, future research should focus on tailoring presented information to address the population of interest more specifically. Keywords: Conservation, Zoo, Zoo-Visitors, Sustainability, Pro-conservation behavior intentions, Pro-conservation intentions, Education, Video-Education, Animal connectedness
| Item Type: | Thesis (Bachelor) |
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| Supervisor name: | Downer, T.J. |
| Degree programme: | Psychology |
| Differentiation route: | None [Bachelor Psychology] |
| Date Deposited: | 15 Jul 2022 08:40 |
| Last Modified: | 15 Jul 2022 08:40 |
| URI: | http://gmwpublic.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/971 |
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