INVESTIGADORES
TONELLO Graciela Lucia Del Carmen
congresos y reuniones científicas
Título:
An exploratory questionnaire to investigate Environmental Sensitivity
Autor/es:
TONELLO GRACIELA
Lugar:
Roma
Reunión:
Congreso; 25 iaps Conference:Transitions to sustainability, lifestyles changes and human wellbeing: cultural, environmental and political challenges; 2018
Institución organizadora:
Universidad Roma Tre
Resumen:
In the frame of an exploratory stage, a questionnairewas administered to a sample of 97 students belonging to two faculties of thesame university, which differed in formal environmental education. Theobjective was to investigate such influence on environmental sensitivity ofstudents living in the same place and context.The two groups were: 1) students of the faculty ofPsychology who have attended and approved the subject environmental psychology(N=52, mean age 26 years, SD 3.1) and 2) students of the Faculty of Economics(N=45, mean age 18 years, SD 1.6) who did not received any environmentaleducation. The questionnaire covered cognitive aspects in termsof being informed about local environmental laws, its existence and fulfilmentperception. Then, they were asked to mention the aspects orelements of the surround environment they dislike, and the aspects or elements of the surround environment theylike most: how they enjoy them, their effects, ifthey perceive those elements are in danger and how they can be protected bythem, personal responsibility. Finally, certain emotions provoked by naturewere investigated in terms of strength, plenitude, submissiveness,interdependence, fear, calm, fragility, vitality, insecurity and harmony. Bymeans of one way anova, significant statistical differences were found betweenthe two groups as to the emotional section. The Psychology group reported morestrength, plenitude, calm, vitality and harmony, and less fear, fragility andinsecurity. When age was entered as afactor, more submissiveness and fragility were experienced by the younger group(Economics). On the other hand, this group failed in identifying the socialdimension of the environment, as well as in the comprehension of the term interdependence, which are part of theenvironmental education. Thesepreliminary results provide certain clues which will help to develop an assessing tool on environmentalsensitivity. The objective is to protect and promote the physical and socialenvironment from a positive perspective, by showing the benefits of living ininterdependence with nature.