Social Psychology Commons^™

Addressing Divergent Audiences In Conservation Communication: An Examination Of Land Trust Websites In Northern California, Tova Fleming

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

In a world rich with a diversity of stories and values, successful conservation must not rely on everyone thinking and feeling the same way. Values are the foundation of the cognitive hierarchy of human behavior and are relatively fixed and unlikely to change. As a result, environmental communication that is reliant on a particular set of values may cause polarization around conservation issues. The reasoned action approach offers a way to explore communication techniques that address the cognitive hierarchy of human behavior at its most malleable point, behavioral intentions. Because land trusts work with historically divergent audiences who are often …