An Examination of Intrinsic Existence Value Towards Wildlife Of
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Eastern Kentucky University Encompass Online Theses and Dissertations Student Scholarship 2016 An Examination of Intrinsic Existence Value Towards Wildlife of Columbus Zoo and Aquariums Tourists: Evaluating the Impact of Behind the Scenes Programming Robert Maxwell Lakes Eastern Kentucky University Follow this and additional works at: https://encompass.eku.edu/etd Part of the Educational Psychology Commons, and the Environmental Education Commons Recommended Citation Lakes, Robert Maxwell, "An Examination of Intrinsic Existence Value Towards Wildlife of Columbus Zoo and Aquariums Tourists: Evaluating the Impact of Behind the Scenes Programming" (2016). Online Theses and Dissertations. 390. https://encompass.eku.edu/etd/390 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Scholarship at Encompass. It has been accepted for inclusion in Online Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Encompass. For more information, please contact [email protected]. AN EXAMINATION OF INTRINSIC EXISTENCE VALUE TOWARDS WILDLIFE OF COLUMBUS ZOO AND AQUARIUMS TOURISTS: EVALUATING THE IMPACT OF BEHIND THE SCENES PROGRAMMING By ROBERT MAXWELL LAKES Master of Science Eastern Kentucky University Richmond, Kentucky 2014 Bachelor of Arts University of Kentucky Lexington, Kentucky 2012 Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School Eastern Kentucky University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF EDUCATION May, 2016 Copyright © Robert Maxwell Lakes, 2016 All rights reserved ii DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to my mother, George Ann Lakes, who showed me through her actions that good things can happen if you never give up. This dissertation is also dedicated to Lana Spicer, without whom my research would not have been possible. Lana’s support on every level allowed me to complete both my masters and my doctorate. I am forever in the debt of my mother and Lana Spicer. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my co-chairs, Dr. Ryan Sharp and Dr. Charles Hausman, for their tutelage, guidance, and patience. I also would like to thank my other committee members, Dr. Michael Bradley and Dr. James Bliss, for their guidance, patience, comments, and assistance over the past year. I thank my family for their love and support. I would especially like to thank my mother, George Ann Lakes, my sister, Kathryn, and my nephews, Jacob and Matthew, without whom I would not have been able to make the needed trips to the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium. iv ABSTRACT Changes in climate and the corresponding environmental issues are major concerns facing the world today. Human consumption, which is leading the rapid depletion of the earth’s finite resources and causing a dramatic loss of biodiversity, is largely to blame (Pearson, Lowry, Dorrian, & Litchfield, 2014). American zoos and aquariums are positioned to create positive experiential relationships between zoo tourists and animals that have the potential to positively change the zoo tourists’ conservation behaviors. Challenges to changing the conservation behaviors of zoo tourists are many. One particularly important challenge is conservation/environmental education. Zoos and aquariums aim to provide effective and quality environmental education to the public, as well as a framework for conservation ethics (Ballantyne, Packer, Hughes, & Dierking, 2007; Falk et al., 2007). Some research suggests presentations combining educational talks with animal training, or other multilayered interpretive animal presentations, are associated with greater learning (Visscher, Snider, & Vander Stoep, 2009; Weiler & Smith, 2009). The immense amount of effort put into designing zoo education programs that allow for meaningful and intimate interactions between tourists and animals is undertaken to produce behavior change in the zoo tourist. Behind the scenes tours are one of the multilayered interpretive presentations that have the ability to impact visitors’ intrinsic existence value of wildlife and ecosystems. This study aimed to examine how more intimate interactions with animals in zoos may lead to an increased sense of conservation. Zoo education research has gained momentum only in the last few years (Ogden & Heimlich, 2009), and research into behind the scenes education programming is just beginning. v TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. INTRODUCTION…..…..………..………………………………........ 1 Early Animal Collections……………………………………………….. 1 The First Modern Zoo…………………………………………………... 1 Early American Zoos…………………………………………………… 2 American Zoo Transformations...………………………………………. 2 Who and What Zoos Impact……………………………...…………….. 6 Zoo Guests or Wildlife Tourists……………………….……………….. 6 Zoo Education Programs for the Wildlife Tourist…………………….... 8 The Animals Tourists Prefer………………………...………………….. 9 Charismatic Mega-Fauna (CMF)……………………………………… 10 Anthropomorphism…………………………………………………….. 10 Different Personalities and Varying Motivations……………………… 11 Evolving Zoo Education and BTS Tours………………………………. 12 The Need for Research…………………………………………………. 14 II. LITERATURE REVIEW……………………………..………........... 16 Introduction……………………………………………………………... 16 Responsible Conservation Behaviors…………………………………... 16 Cognitive Hierarchy Model of Human Behavior………………...…….. 17 Kellert’s Wildlife Attitudes and Putney’s Intangible Values…………... 19 Empathy and Caring Research Tools………………………….……….. 26 Existence Value…………………………………………………..…….. 28 vi Existence Value’s Connection with Conservation Behaviors………….. 30 Emotions and Their Connection to Intrinsic Existence Value and 34 Behavior………………………………………….……………….…….. Charismatic Mega-Fauna (CMF)……………………………………….. 36 Education……………………………………………………………….. 37 The Impact of CMF on Zoo Education Programs, and Its Uses in BTS 40 Tours…………………………………………………………...……….. The Potential of Behind the Scenes Interpretive Tours…………..…….. 43 III. PURPOSE AND RATIONALE………………..…………………....... 45 Purpose Statement…………………………..………………………….. 45 Rationale…………………………………………….………………….. 45 Objectives and Hypothesis……………….……………….…………….. 46 Methods………………………………………………..……………….. 46 Site Description/Columbus Zoo History…………….………………….. 47 Constructing the Survey Instrument and Pilot Study…………..……….. 48 Final Survey Instrument…………..…………………………………….. 49 Participants………………………..…………………………………….. 50 Data Collection Site for Regular Visitors………...…………………….. 51 Data Collection Sites for Wild Encounters Behind the Scenes Tours….. 51 Variables and Measures…………………………..…………………….. 54 Analysis………………………………………..……………………….. 54 Limitations………………………………..…………………………….. 55 IV. RESULTS………………………………………….…………………... 56 vii Frequency Results……………………...……………………………….. 56 Total Tourists……………………………..…………………………….. 57 Regular Tourists………………………………….…………………….. 58 Behind the Scenes Tourists………………………….………………….. 59 Intrinsic Existence Values……………………………..……………….. 60 Self-Conservation Behaviors……………………………..…………….. 61 Influencing Conservation Behaviors of Others……………..………….. 62 The Relationship of Intrinsic Existence Value with Conservation 63 Actions and Tour Impacts……………………………...……………….. Tour Impacts……………………………………...…………………….. 64 V. CONCLUSION………………………………………………………... 66 Conclusions………………………………………………….………….. 66 The Impact of BTS Tours on Conservation Behaviors: Implications for 66 Zoos…………………………………………………………………….. The Impact of BTS Tours on Willingness to Influence the Conservation 67 Behavior of Others………………………………….………………….. The Relationship between Intrinsic Existence Value of Wildlife and 68 Conservation Behaviors: Implications for Zoos………….…………….. Differences in BTS Tourists’ Intrinsic Existence Value and the 69 Intrinsic Existence Value of Regular Tourists………………………….. Implications for Future Research……………………………………….. 70 Implications for Zoos……………………………………………..…….. 71 REFERENCES………………………………………………………………….. 72 viii APPENDICES....…………………………………………………...……………. 86 Appendix A: Regular Tourist Survey 86 Appendix B: BTS Tourist Survey 90 Appendix C: Columbus Zoo Research Permission Letter 94 Appendix D: Wild Encounters: Discovery Reef, Behind the Scenes…... 96 Appendix E: Wild Encounters: Giraffe Barn, Behind the Scenes……… 108 Appendix F: Wild Encounters: Manatee Coast, Behind the Scenes 131 (2013 Version)………………………………………………………….. Appendix G: Hospital Tour Outline—AS……………………………… 147 Appendix H: Discovery Reef BTS Tour Mission and Goals 157 Appendix I: Giraffe Barn BTS Tour Mission and Goals 160 Appendix J: Manatee Coast BTS Tour Mission and Goal 164 Appendix K: Animal Hospital BTS Tour Mission and Goals 167 VITA………...……………………………………………………………………. 171 ix LIST OF TABLES TABLE PAGE 2.1 Kellert’s typology of wildlife attitudes………………………...……….. 21 2.2 Typology of Intangible Values Created for the WCPA……………….... 24 4.1 Demographic Information by Tourist Type…………………………….. 57 4.2 Independent samples t-test Comparing Levels of Intrinsic Existence 61 Value Towards Wildlife Between BTS tourists and Regular Tourists. P < .05…………………………………………………………………….. 4.3 Mean and t-value for BTS Tourist vs Regular Tourist Behavioral 62 Intentions. p < .05………………………………………...…………….. 4.4 Individual means for each Behavioral Intention Group Questions.…….. 62 4.5 Independent samples t-test for “Willingness to Urge Friends to Change 63 their Behavior” between BTS Tourist and Regular Tourist. p < .05…………………………………………………………...………….. 4.6 Pearson’s correlation between “Intrinsic Value,” “Behavioral 64 Intentions,” and “Tour Impact” group questions……………………….. 4.7 Descriptive statistics for each Tour Impact question…………..……….. 65 x LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE PAGE 1.1 Evolution of Zoos