Award Date

5-1-2013

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Educational Psychology & Higher Education

First Committee Member

Gregg Schraw

Second Committee Member

Lisa Bendixen

Third Committee Member

CarolAnne M. Kardash

Fourth Committee Member

Margaret Rees

Number of Pages

159

Abstract

This study investigated the viability of an instrument called the Biophilic Attitudes Inventory (BAI), a pen-and-paper instrument intended to measure attitudes toward nature that, according to naturalist Edward O. Wilson, are rooted in an innate predisposition that humans possess to connect with other forms of life. Utilizing confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), two models were tested (n=334)--a seven-factor model that reflected Stephen Kellert's biophilia typology and a more parsimonious two-factor model. However, neither model proved viable in terms of construct validity. As a result, a new model with four factors was developed via exploratory factor analysis (EFA). A subsequent CFA revealed a reasonable fit between the data and the four-factor model. An inspection of the correlations between the four factors and established measures of attitudes toward nature provided evidence of the four-factor model's convergent and discriminant validity.

Keywords

Attitude (Psychology); Biophilia; Environmental attitudes; Human ecology; Human measurement; Instrument development; Instrument validation; Psychological tests

Disciplines

Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research | Educational Psychology | Environmental Sciences

File Format

pdf

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

Rights

IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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