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The Effects of the Psycho-Social Need for Security on Irrigation Farmers' Behavior and Cognition Related to Water Resources

The findings of this study indicated, contrary to expectations, that irrigation farmers who expressed needs for water did not engage in certain types of goal-oriented behavior designed to resolve those needs any more so than did those who did not express these needs. There were four measures of goal-orientation which included: Attendance at meetings about the Bear River Project, actively seeking information about said Project and positive attitude toward development of the Bear River.
There were significant relationships, however, between expressed water needs and worries over the water supply, the experiencing of human problems related to water use and perceived threats associated with the possibility of losing water.
It was discovered that the farmers' belief that surplus water exists in the Bear River was a major factor associated with both their attitude toward development of the Bear River and their perception of benefits of the Project. This would suggest that farmers perceive that development must first be possible by the existence of reserve water in the Bear River.
An incidental yet important finding of the study was that a good portion of the farmers who favored some kind of development felt that the Project as planned would be a hindrance to the water situation in their areas.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:UTAHS/oai:digitalcommons.usu.edu:etd-5458
Date01 May 1969
CreatorsGeertsen, Dennis Call
PublisherDigitalCommons@USU
Source SetsUtah State University
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typetext
Formatapplication/pdf
SourceAll Graduate Theses and Dissertations
RightsCopyright for this work is held by the author. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owner. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user. For more information contact Andrew Wesolek (andrew.wesolek@usu.edu).

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