Subjectivity in perception of environmental issues and its implications for environmental education

환경 문제 지각의 주관성 : 확실성과 체험가능성

This study was designed to find answers for the two questions that had been raised in the study of Lee and Fortner(2000): 1) How can the appropriateness of classification of environmental issues by perceived certainty and 2) How are perceived certainty, tangibility, significance of environmental issues and willingness to act to solve those problems related to each other\ulcorner A questionnaire consisted of 40 questions was administered to 144 college students. Results of the study revealed that classification through cluster analysis appeared to be more appropriate and credible than classification by mean scores or medians. Four major factors were found to have high positive correlations to each other as hypothesized. These results imply for environmental educations that people's attitude toward and behavior on environmental problems are likely to be more strongly and meaningfully associated with their perceptions of those problems that are subjective and flexible than physical or chemical characteristics of the problems that are frequently considered as objective.