Human Dimensions Exam 1

Sink holes in LA contain chemicals which can leak into watershed.  Sink holes caused by salt mines, over drained aquifers, oil exploration.

• 1) When should we obtain info?
• 2) How should we get it?
• 3) How should we weight the information?
• 4) Can we arrive at a mutually acceptable solution?

data from questions are analyzed discretely or lumped into meaningful subgroups.  Useful but limited.

data from questions analyzed to examine patterns in responses.  Searches for underlying reasons/attitudes.

interest in and affection for wildlife and outdoors

environment as a system

interest and affection for individuals animals.  Focus on charismatic megafauna.  Often in conflict with naturalistic people.

interest in artistic and symbolic roles of animals (ex. artists, Native American religious leaders).

interest in practical and material value of animals or animals' habitat.  Less common in developed world than developing world and less common now than in past.

interst in mastery and conrtol of animals (ex. bull fighters)

active avoidance of animals due to dislike or fear (ex. Pilgrims)

Passive avoidance due to indifference or lack of interest (ex. technophiles).

• examines concepts (e.g. values, attitudes, and norms) underlying the process from thought to action and the relationship among those concepts.
• may be used predictively
• more common traditionally

the collections of mental processes and activities used in percieving, remembering, thinking and understanding as well as the act of using these processes.  Typically, these are considered as a hiearchy.

desirable end states, modes of conduct, or qualities of life that we individually or collectively hold dear.  Ex. Gender equality or freedom of expression.

• thoughts about specific objects or issues that give meaning to values. 
• patterns may suggest overall value orientation
• value may have multiple basic beliefs; values can be situational

"direction" or application of a value.  Useful across cultures.  Ex. Equality may be applied to all living things or just humans.

• Domination: wildlife use, recreational, hunting, fishing
• Mutualism: wildlife rights, residential, educational, bequest/existence.

• a person's evaluation, either favorable or unfavorable, or a person, object, concept, or action.
• can predict and influence behaviors
• focus of most HD research

how closely the attitude relates to an issue

how easily and quickly thoughts come to mind; how accessible the thoughts are.

• standards of behavior.  Norms specify what people should do or what most people do.
• Norms directly influence behavior

standards shared by a group

individuals own expectations, learned from shared experiences and modified by interaction

only human beings posses inherent value.  Other things only have value based on their usefulness to humans.  One has concern about the environment only in how degradation of the environment effects other human interests.

environmental problems have a social origin, and their solution is concomitant with alleviation of these social injustices.  Presumption is that human behaviors that degrade the environment are the result of social, economic, and political structures that surround and enable the behavior.  Modification of current social, economic, and political conditions are required for solving environmental problems.

inherent value is extended beyond animals to all living things.  Some eastern religious traditions, like Jainism.

one's ethical duty is not just to plants and animals.  One values the ecosystem as a whole.  Value of organisms within an ecosystem depends on their value to the larger system.

this ethic is a cross between biocentric ethics with social emphasis.  Deep Ecology does not blame social structures and injustices for all environmental troubles, but rather blame unequal distribution of resources among humans and between humans with plants and animals and overpopulation by humans for environmental issues.  Decentralization, increased cultural awareness and sensitivity, and de-globalization are the solutions to environmental problems.

ecofeminism can range from advocating a gender-neutral (non-patriarchal, i.e. the animals are not sheep to our shepherd) approach to assigning value to a viewpoint that links oppression of women to degredation of nature.  In either case, androcentrism is rejected (i.e. the relationship of humans to the environment is not that of father and child).

decisions are unilateral; they are made by one individual, typically head of department/agency/ect.

authority is given to individual to decide and decisions can be overturned by higher authority

agreed with held values/beliefs, credibility of course, pre-existing attitudes, bias regarding source.

values that give rise to beliefs

monetary worth placed on object, experience, etc. based on our held values.