Simon Garrett: Real World Zoos + Academic Psychology = World Changing Action Research?

Real-world zoos + academic psychology

world changing action research?

Simon Garrett, Head of Learning, Bristol Zoo Gardens [email protected]

LearningConservation

Research

Enter

tainm

ent

A sustainable future for wildlife and people

Conservation breeding

Field conservation

WAZA:The educational focus should induce a feeling of wonder and respect for the web of life and our role in it; it should engage the emotions and build on this experience to create a conservation ethic that can be carried into action.


Learningat Bristol Zoo:

38,000 pupils in education sessions

650,000 visitors a year

Learning outcomes:• Activity, behaviour and progression

• Skills

• Enjoyment, creativity and inspiration

• Attitudes, values and feelings

• Knowledge and understanding

We need to get everyone (i.e. normal people) involved in conservation to be truly effective in the long term …

… the sustainable future for wildlife and people.

• Connection

• Action

ZSL symposium 2005 – ‘The human dimensions of wildlife conservation’

UK zoo directors and (mostly) American (conservation) psychologists speaking entirely different languages.

… and then I went to IZE …

The magic partnership history nutshell

Monash Uni research (Betty Weiler, Sue Broad and Liam Smith) • showed zoo experiences changing attitudes, creating

arousal – but not much evidence of influencing behaviour• got people at the zoo thinking differently.

Zoos Victoria• 2005 evaluation of possum program – zero schools action• employed Rachel Lowry and … behaviour change became

core business.

Tourism Research Unit

Liam Smith


Monash University

Does emotion at the zoo influence pro-wildlife behaviour?


The zoo proposition

Institute for changing people

ZOO


Studies into the zoo proposition

• Some show that visitors are already active in conservation

• Few studies have tested the impact of different types of experiences

• Most behaviour studies in zoos show little support for the zoo proposition

• BUT…


Emotion may be important

• Attention

• Memory

• Behaviour through cognitive and affective models

• So there is definitely potential…


Four studies to examine the impact of visitor emotions on the behaviour of visitors

– Identify experiences to test– Test them for emotional arousal – Develop measures of behaviour– Test the impact of emotion on behaviour


Identify experiences to test

• Consultation with ZV staff from each property• Eight selected

– Orang presentation– Elephant presentation– Butterfly house– Bus tour– Rip Roaring Feed tour– BOP show– Watching an operation at the AWHC– Watching a reptile show


Test them for emotional arousal


Physiological data


Results

• The two most consistently emotionally arousing experiences were...

– The BOP show – this was chosen (3 behaviours already asked, open to all)

– Rip Roaring Feed tour


Develop measures of behaviour

• Attitudes toward behaviours and behavioural intentions for:

• Buying 100% recycled• Recycling paper and cardboard• Removing road kill off the road


Testing the impact of emotion on behaviour

• Measured attitudes and intentions before and after BOP show

• Measured emotion and attention-paying during the show

• Examined the relationship between emotion and changes in attitudes and intentions

• Measured attitudes and intentions of those who didn’t go to the show


Findings

• Most attitudes and intentions for the recycling behaviours did not change as a result of attending the BOP show

• Attitude toward and intention to remove road kill did change but emotion probably wasn’t the reason

• First time visitors experience more emotional arousal and this may distract them from requests


Some suggestions

• Separate the WOW from the REQUEST

• Repetition

• Emotion into the REQUEST

• Choose novel behaviours


• New• Easy• Response efficacy high or explained• On-site options

+ consider the number of people you want to influence

What to ask?


• Ran 8 workshops with zoo staff around Australia

• Elicited large lists of behaviours

• Applying NERO criteria led to prioritising

– Political engagement and activism

– Consumerism

Results of applying NERO

The magic partnership history nutshell

Monash Uni research (Betty Weiler, Sue Broad and Liam Smith) • showed zoo experiences changing attitudes, creating

arousal – but not much evidence of influencing behaviour• got people at the zoo thinking differently.

Zoos Victoria• Developed a model.

The seed• 2006/07 – trialled two education programmes at Werribee,

and in Zimbabwe using the new model – with great success.

• Rachel employed for one year

• 2008, budgeted A$3,000 for phone campaign (£2k)

Thanks to Melbourne's people

426,000 mobile phones are ‘retired’ in the US every day

They’re calling on you – Oct 2008• Over 47,000 phones diverted from landfill

• more than AU$100,000 dollars raised

• 122 corporations registered, committing their retired mobile fleets

• over 200 schools and other organisations signed up to do mobile phone drives

• media communications raised the profile of the program and Melbourne Zoo.

• Bar codes showed 26% return rate from keeper talks, vs 7% from main gate

• Newspaper reaching over a million is inserting ‘satchel’ in every copy

Don’t palm us off – 2009• 70,000 signatures in the first five months, now 162,317

• Bill to The Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia titled ‘Food Standards Amendment (Truth in labelling – Palm Oil)’

• Rise in awareness from 53.4% to 97% amongst zoo visitors

• More than 31,000 people joined the facebook page

• The Campaign website has driven traffic to the zoo website generating more than 138,000 unique viewers

• Country Life Soap sponsored the campaign for $50,000 whilst placing the Melbourne Zoo logo and call to action on product going into more 5 million Australian homes

• So far over AU$300,000 raised

• 95% of Australians buy non-recycled toilet paper.

• 6.7 million trees are flushed in Australia every year.

• http://www.zoo.org.au/wipe

Key objectivesWipe for Wildlife aims to:

• Shift at least 10,000 households towards recycled toilet paper in one year.

• Raise the profile of selected native species and the power of conservation-sensitive consumers.

http://www.zoo.org.au/wipe


What is the theory of planned behaviour?

Attitude toward the behaviour

Subjective norm

Perceived behavioural

control

Intention to do the behaviour Behaviour

On balance, is it a good thing to do?

What makes it hard or easy to do?

Who would approve or disapprove?

BASED ON BELIEFS


What is the TPB approach?

• Study 1: Work out what the beliefs are

• Study 2: Work out what type of beliefs are the best predictors of behaviour or intention

• Study 3: Measure belief strength and compare between doers and non-doers

Attitude toward the behaviour

Subjective norm

Perceived behavioural control

Intention to do the behaviour

Behaviour

If I sign up to an online wildlife action group, I could be sent spam emails (attitude belief)

My spouse / partner would approve if I purchased recycled toilet paper (normative belief)

My supermarket doesn’t stock phosphate-free detergent (control belief)

If I donate to the Tassie Devil Appeal, some of the money will be wasted on administration

Those that donated = 4.3

Those that didn’t donate = 6.7


An example of the TPB approach: purchasing 100% recycled toilet paper

• Study 1 – belief elicitation– Some beliefs were predictable:

• buying 100% recycled TP will save trees

• buying 100% recycled TP will save wildlife

• it feels uncomfortable to use

• it costs more

– Some were less common:• my spouse is an important other

• opaque packaging makes it harder to buy


Belief differences between compliers and non-compliers for buying recycled toilet paper

Belief Complier average score

Non complier average score p

If I purchase 100% recycled toilet paper at the supermarket within a month it will help save trees 17.8 16.4 0.13

If I purchase 100% recycled toilet paper at the supermarket within a month it will help save water, energy and resources 17.4 15.8 0.11

If I purchase 100% recycled toilet paper at the supermarket within a month, it will help save wildlife habitat 18.7 16.6 0.06

When using 100% recycled toilet paper, it feels uncomfortable compared to using non-recycled toilet paper -2.5 -6.4 0.02*

When using 100% recycled toilet paper, I get annoyed because it is too thin and tears easily -3.7 -8.1 0.00*

Purchasing 100% recycled toilet paper makes me feel good 16.6 11.0 0.00*

100% recycled toilet paper costs more than non-recycled toilet paper -4.4 -1.4 0.00*

100% recycled toilet paper is not clearly labelled at the supermarket 11.0 7.7 0.08


Three examples...

• At Perth Zoo, we found these beliefs important:

1. 100% recycled toilet paper feels uncomfortable compared to using non-recycled toilet paper

2. 100% recycled toilet paper costs more than non-recycled toilet paper

3. 100% recycled toilet paper is too thin and tears easily

Wipe for Wildlife – 2010/11• Board gave approval but Rachel was told to keep complaint log. First

complaint was that Crapman wasn’t there the day a family visited.

• 27,000 households engaged

• 45% of visitors got the message

• 27% of non-compliers switched

• Crapman was the most effective influence


Another example...

• At Adelaide, we found these beliefs important for donating at an enormous globe...

– It is clear what the globe is for (confusion about ‘Conservation Ark’)

– My kids would approve if I put money in the donation globe

– If I put money in the donation globe, it will help endangered species


Conservation ARKWe exist to save animals

from extinction

Help support international conservation programs


Please consider the environment. Hang up your towel so we know not to replace it. Reusing towels decreases the use of electricity, detergents and water. Please reuse your towel


Most guests at this hotel consider the environment and reuse their towel at least once during their stay. Please join them in considering the environment and reuse your towel.

↑ 26%


Most guests who stay in this room consider the environment and reuse their towel at least once during their stay. Please join them in considering the environment and reuse your towel.

↑ 33%


At this hotel we are committed to the environment. When you reuse your towel, we donate a percentage of the energy savings to WWF. Please reuse your towel

0%


At this hotel, we are committed to the environment. We’ve already donated to WWF on behalf of our guests in anticipation of the savings we’ll make through towel reuse. Please reuse your towel

↑ 45%


A final example...

• At Taronga, we found differences for...

– It will fund the Tasmanian devil breeding program

– The keepers would approve of me donating to the Tassie Devil

Appeal

– My kids would approve

– I could easily find / see the donation box

– The design of the donation box was good

– There was not enough information about the Tassie Devil Appeal


Videos

• Video 1 – existing Tassie Devil Video

• Video 2 – Old Spice ad http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owGykVbfgUE

• Video 3 – Waz doing the Old Spice man

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owGykVbfgUE


Videos


Conclusions

• Research can help guide but identifying the message is just the start

• The TPB is just one of many approaches that can be used

• Need to compare methods

Is this all too much?


AHA, so your threshold wasn’t crossed and you could have been asked three more times

Two times today.. that I can remember

The personal threshold measure...

How many times during a visit should the zoo ask you to help

wildlife?

Oh, I reckon about five times

How many times were you asked to help wildlife today?


Is this all too much?

• Very few visitors have their personal threshold crossed

• Visitor satisfaction goes up the more you ask

• … as long as you only ask for money once

Simon Garrett: Real World Zoos + Academic Psychology = World Changing Action Research?

Education

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