The logical structure of this thesis demanded a three part presentation. Part I of this thesis provides an historical analysis of global marine ideologies and values, and establishes a framework and justification for the research. The chronological analysis in Part I reveals that humans lived in harmony with the environment throughout most of history. It was not until the twentieth century that technological developments and the burgeoning human population began to take its toll. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries disciplines such as astronomy, physics and chemistry became distinct from philosophy. The most recent discipline to develop has been psychology, a science that is barely one hundred years old. In the past, psychological investigation ignored the natural world until in recent years the new paradigm of environmental psychology has emerged. Expanding on the notion of phenomenological psychology, a systems-oriented approach demands a holistic world view in contrast to analysing parts of a system. From this perspective, the present research adopted a biosocial multidisciplinary approach to the study of the human/marine environment interface. Part II is concerned with the theory and method in the study of marine and coastal environments. The theoretical concept of consumer socialisation assumes that learning takes place during interaction with socialisation agents such as family, peers, cultural influences and the media. To test the paradigm of social learning theory in familial (informal) and peer collaborative (formal) circumstances, two research studies were carried out. First, a three generational sample of five families in Auckland, New Zealand, were interviewed to test intergenerational commonalities and differences in social, cultural and economic values pertaining to marine environmental issues. Content analysis supported the notion that mechanisms associated with consumer socialisation theory were evident in the rhetorical constructs of participants. Predictions that environmentally aware parents and grandparents would have children with similar attitudes, and adjacent generations would have more closely aligned attitudes and beliefs than nonadjacent generations, were supported. Further, interactive dialogue resulted in contradictions and coercion, strategies associated with attitude change within the theoretical model of social learning. The second research study investigated the effects of collaborative learning on cognitive development. In contrast to the systemic approach of experiential learning, the traditional lecture format fails to address the student as a total person. Based on this premise, an interactive simulation game with a focus on marine conservation, and the corresponding effects on learning and behaviour, was developed in the present study. Decisions relating to conservation versus economic development of the marine environment were manipulated by the introduction of role-play in the context of the simulation game, which was based on an imaginary island governed by eight ministries. Following rigorous pilot testing, the final version of the simulation game was field tested with one hundred and fifty-four students aged between twelve and fifteen years at three Auckland, New Zealand, high schools. Results revealed first, a significant effect of role-play on decision-making and second, a significant difference between control and experimental groups in correct answers to knowledge-based questionnaires, confirming the effectiveness of peer interaction through simulation as a teaching device. Students began to construct their own cognitive understanding of environmental issues and problems faced by government departments with divergent agendas. Once this point was reached it was not difficult for participants to consider social, economic and environmental factors in terms of real-life situations. The results of both studies are summarised in the final chapter. Findings revealed that socialisation processes are instrumental in developing orientation towards environmental issues. Furthermore, interpersonal communication has the power to alter cognitive structures. Justification for concern about marine environmental protection, and the urgency associated with the development of educational mechanisms, was evident from the results of this research. Implications for future interaction with marine biosocial systems, limitations of the study and directions for further research, are defined in the closing sections of this thesis.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/275079 |
| Date | January 1996 |
| Creators | Wolfenden, Jean E. |
| Publisher | ResearchSpace@Auckland |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | Items in ResearchSpace are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated., http://researchspace.auckland.ac.nz/docs/uoa-docs/rights.htm, Copyright: The author |
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