The thesis is divided into five parts. I) In the introduction, the existing theory of cognitive distance is discussed and amplified, with emphasis on the differences between a psychological and a geographical approach to the subject. II) A brief thematic history of the philosophy of space is given, from the behavioural point of view. The ways in which the nature of space could affect the perception of distance are discussed. III) An account of a large experiment investigating the perception of global distances is set out. Students from three universities estimated distances to 24 places ranging in distance from Dublin to Christchurch, N.Z. In the analysis of the results a completely new methodology is introduced to deal with misestimation. Consideration is given to globe and map distances, degree of certainty on the part of the subject, cognitive barriers, logarithmicity of estimatibn and descriptive statistics. The second major experiment involved asking citizens in ten Scottish and North British towns to estimate distances to other towns in the experiment. Investigation is made of the commatativity of cognitive space, road and direct distances, logarithmicity, familiarity of destination, attractiveness of destination, the effects of travel time, certainty on the part of the subject, four different cognitive barriers and the comparability of the different subject groups. V) A brief recapitulation of the results linking some of the themes from the preceding four parts form the conclusion of the thesis.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:659821 |
| Date | January 1979 |
| Creators | Musson, R. M. W. |
| Publisher | University of Edinburgh |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://hdl.handle.net/1842/18482 |
Page generated in 0.0018 seconds