Sensation seeking and attitudes to aspects of national parks: a preliminary empirical investigation

✍ Scribed by Graeme Galloway; Karla Lopez

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1999
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 100 KB
• Volume: 20
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0261-5177
• DOI: 10.1016/s0261-5177(99)00031-x

✦ Synopsis

This article reports the results of an exploratory study concerning the relationship between the personality construct &&sensation seeking'', operationalized in terms of Arnett's (1994, Personality and Individual Di+erences, 16(2), 289}296) Inventory, and attitudes to various aspects of national parks. Signi"cant relationships were observed between scores on the Intensity subscale of the Inventory and attitudes to visiting remote parks, structured tours, presence of dangerous animals, seeking wildlife, and stimulating/challenging activities. Scores on the Novelty subscale of the Inventory were also found to be signi"cantly related to attitudes to visiting remote parks, as well as to the importance of picnic/BBQ facilities, meeting interesting/like-minded people, and eating in untouched areas of parks. It is suggested that further productive research on this topic should examine the e!ects of individual di!erence variables in more detail, most notably age, and other personality characteristics, as well as providing a more detailed characterization of park features. The analysis of markets for national parks in terms of sensation seeking and other personality variables appears to have substantial potential as a means to enhance the marketing and management of such areas.