Resource-Related Information: A Study of Attitudes Toward Drilling for Oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

• Main Authors: Tara L. Teel, Alan D. Bright, Michael J. Manfredo, Jeffrey, J. Brooks
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Arctic
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.555.3538; http://www.fs.fed.us/rm/pubs_other/rmrs_2006_teel_t001.pdf

r~nturcrl I-esoul-ce-related infonlzrrtion in u biased ~iznnne~-. Datn were gcrtlwrer / using survej3s nchiiinistered to students enrolled in zrndergradurrte cluss~s rrt Color~do State Uni~vrsitj,. Students ' nt titudes tolzwd Arctic drilli~zg Ir7ere evnlzmted both bqfore nnd rfter tllev were exposed to e.wggerated ir?fornlrrtion about both sides of the issue. Consistent with i~zitinl expectrrtiorzs, respondmts ' attitudes did not chmge N,S CI result of ' exposure to m v infomintion. Respondents defi.ndecJ their init in1 crt ti-tzrdes ill ~wting the quality of the il? forniation. Tllose lidlo esyre.ssed initial support for drilling evnlurtted yro-drilling mgu)nents more j i r ~ ~ o r ~ b l y nnd discoul~red mti-c/rilling crrgza~zents, while those in opposition to drilling tended to,firvor tlie nnii-drilling nrgu~?ie~t.s in their evnluations. Evidence of biased yrocessir~g suggests thrrt the provision of'.fi7ctual in forn~t io~z mny not be enough if the goul of ' educatioli progrr11izs is to cl l~nge attitudes tolixii-d ~oi~troversinl ntzrrnl resource issues. Keywords arctic national wildlife refuge, attitudes, biased processing, education. information, natural resource issues. oil drilling Natural resource agencies face many challenges in developing effective education