New Strategies for Measuring Connectedness with Nature
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Carol Saunders
California State University
Brookfield Zoo
October 19, 2006
Presentation prepared for Society of Human Ecology, Bar Harbor, Maine.
Address correspondences to: Wesley Schultz, Department of Psychology,
California State University, San Marcos, CA, 92078. Wschultz@csusm.edu
.
(760) 750-8045.

New Strategies for Measuring Connectedness with Nature
Wesley Schultz
California State University
Carol Saunders
Brookfield Zoo
October 19, 2006
Presentation prepared for Society of Human Ecology, Bar Harbor, Maine.
Address correspondences to: Wesley Schultz, Department of Psychology,
California State University, San Marcos, CA, 92078. Wschultz@csusm.edu
.
(760) 750-8045.

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Coral Bruni, Karelle Jones, Randie Chance,
Jeremy Bowlin, Wes Mouw
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Publications related to this line of inquiry:
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Schultz, P. W., Tabanico, J., & Tilos, R., & Adams, C. (in press). Self, identity, and the natural environment. Journal of Applied Social Psychology.
Oskamp, S., & Schultz, P. W. (2005). Attitudes and opinions (3rd ed.). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Schultz, P. W., Shriver, C., Tabanico, J., & Khazian, A. (2004). Implicit connections with nature.
Journal of Environmental Psychology, 24, 31-42.
Schultz, P. W. (2002). Inclusion with nature: Understanding the psychology of human-nature interactions. In P. Schmuck, & P. W. Schultz, The psychology of sustainable development.
New York:
Kluwer.
Schultz, P. W. (2000). Empathizing with nature: The effects of perspective-taking on concern for environmental issues. Journal of Social Issues , 56 , 391-406.

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Environmental attitudes --the evaluative beliefs
(affect) and behavioral intentions a person holds regarding environmentally related activities or issues.
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“I favor opening the Alaskan Arctic Wildlife Refuge for oil exploration”
Environmental concern --affect or worry associated with environmental problems.
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One component of environmental attitudes
“How much does each of the following environmental problems worry you…”
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E.g., Water pollution, global warming, depletion of natural resources, biodiversity, habitat destruction

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Environmental values --the reasons why a person is concerned about environmental problems.
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Egoistic--focus on self
Social-altruistic--focus on other people
Biospheric--focus on plants and animals
Biospheric concerns are positively correlated with environmental behavior
Egoistic concerns negatively correlated with environmental behavior
What leads a person to value nature versus valuing self?

Why
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Environmental literature is replete with references to “inclusion”
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Humans are a part of nature, versus, humans are separate from nature.
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I am a part of nature, or I am separate from nature
This belief is “primitive” and generally
“implicit”

The Inclusion Model
Psychological Inclusion
Connected to nature
Biospheric
Motives +
+
Separate from nature
Egoistic
Motive
Rational Choice
Behavior

A Psychological Model of Inclusion
Inclusion-An individual’s beliefs about the extent to which s/he is part of the natural environment.
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Cognitive--connectedness between self and nature
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Affective--the extent to which an individual cares about plants and animals
Behavioral-an individual’s commitment to act in ways that benefit the natural environment.

Measuring Connectedness
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Inclusion of Nature in Self (Schultz, 2001)
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Connectedness to Nature Scale (Mayer &
Frantz, 2004)
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Environmental identity (Clayton & Opotow,
2003)
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New Ecological Paradigm (Dunlap et al.,
2000)
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Others being developed

Implicit Connections with Nature
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Implicit Association Test (IAT)
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Greenwald et al. (1998, 2003)
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Categorization task
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Response latencies
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Compatible and incompatible trials
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Details previously published (Schultz et al., 2004, 2005, in press; Bruni et al.,
2006)

Balanced Identity Designs (Greenwald et al., 2003)
Self
Evaluation
Attitude Attribute or
Group

Balanced Identity Designs (Greenwald et al., 2003)
Self
Self-Nature
Associations
Evaluation
Attitude Attribute or
Group

FlexiTwins Game
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On-line or stand-alone game, incorporating IAT principles
Provides scores of Implicit Connections with Nature
Possible use with children
Incorporated into a longitudinal study
QuickTime™ and a
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QuickTime™ and a
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FlexiTwins Game
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Game used and validated with adult samples (Schultz & Bruni, forthcoming)
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Good reliability and test-retest
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Evidence for validity
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Current project designed to examine usefulness with children
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Pilot testing for forthcoming longitudinal study

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FlexiTwins Game
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Participants : 30 grade school children, ages
10-12 (5th grade)
Materials : several self-report measures of environmental attitudes, flexitwins game, inperson interview, peer-ratings, teacher ratings, daily dairy, picture of favorite place
Procedure : tested individually in classroom.
On-line survey, in-person interview, play game (twice)

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FlexiTwins Game
NATURE BUILT ME NOT ME
Waterfall Church (name) (random)
Flower Chair (picture) (random)
Tree Car
Mountain Truck
Note : Stimuli derived from a card sorting task with kids at the Brookfield Zoo. Selected items were those that were most consistently classified by 10-yearolds as “natural” or “built.”

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Results
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8
6
4
2
0
0 .0 0
. 1 3
. 2 5
. 38
. 5 0
. 6 3
. 7 5
. 8 8
1 .0 0
1 .1 3
1 .2 5
1 .3 8
Std . Dev = .3 7
Me an = .6 4
N = 3 0 .0 0
Flex i Twin s D to t a l Sco re Tim e 2

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Results
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Children very high on connectedness
( mean =.64)
For comparison:
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California college students (.38 to .44 across six studies)
Sample of visitors from San Diego Zoo (.45)
Environmental activists (.62)

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Results
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Correlates with implicit connectedness
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Explicit concerns (not significant)
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Expected pattern, but not significant
Gender: boys less connected than girls
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Caring for plants or animals (not significant)
Number of hours watching TV (r=-.41)
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Number of hours playing video games (r=-
.45)

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Results
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Correlates with implicit connectedness
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Time spent playing inside (r=-.36)
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Time spent playing outside (not significant)
“Is there a person in your life who encourages you to spend time in nature.” Yes
(.70), no (.49)

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Discussion
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Current data used as pilot test for forthcoming longitudinal study
“accelerated longitudinal design”
Measuring kids at age 10, 12, 14, 16, 18
Yearly measures for four years
What to include?
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Open for comment and discussion
What factors lead to connectedness?
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What consequences does connectedness have on later-life decisions?