The Environmental Action and Philosophy Matrix: An Exploratory Study of the Environmental Attitudes of Recreation Management and Environmental Studies Students

Abstract

This study is a comparative analysis of the environmental philosophies of college undergraduates enrolled in a Midwestern university. Two courses were used for the research, one from a recreation management curriculum and the other from environmental studies. The study utilized a survey instrument called the Environmental Action and Philosophy Matrix to determine the extent to which students’ environmental attitudes are based on scientific or religious rationale, as well as anthropocentric or biocentric perspectives. Findings show students to possess scientific underpinnings for their viewpoints, regardless of anthropocentric or biocentric tendencies. In addition, the environmental studies students displayed more biocentric attitudes than the recreation management students.

Keywords:

• anthropocentric
• biocentric
• environmental action and philosophy matrix
• environmental attitudes
• environmental philosophy
• university students

Notes

1. According to Dunlap et al. (2000, p. 425), the new scale addresses some of the criticism of the original instrument and includes three distinct changes: “(1) It taps a wider range of facets of an ecological worldview, (2) It offers a balanced set of pro- and anti- NEP items, and (3) It avoids outmoded terminology.”