10.2190/5H45-YUXH-MPL0-PNT8 5H45YUXHMPL0PNT8 2 The Ways People Think About Water 15 27 20020509 20020509 20020509 20020509 5H45YUXHMPL0PNT8.pdf http://baywood.metapress.com/link.asp?target=contribution&id=5H45YUXHMPL0PNT8 1 Blair E. Nancarrow Leigh M. Smith Geoffrey J. Syme CSIRO, Australian Research Centre for Water in Society Curtin University of Technology, Perth, Western Australia Despite the significance of water in all facets of human life, there is little replicated information about how people think about the resource. In this study, two samples of people were asked how often they "thought about water" in fourteen different contexts varying from the "rights to water" and its environmental and aesthetic significance, to aspects of water as a domestic commodity. the responses to many questions were often skewed. Responses to the questions were found to be largely independent. However, three consistent factors emerged: "conservation," "aesthetics," and "utility." Cluster analysis showed consistent patterns of responses between the two samples. Attitudes toward personal rights to water was an influential variable in cluster analysis. Cluster membership did not relate to household water consumption. Further research, using hierarchical models of thinking and relating cluster membership to water-policy attitudes is suggested. D. H. Harris, <i>the Human Dimensions of Water Resources Planning, Human Factors, 19</i>, pp. 241-251, 1977. G. J. Syme and K. D. Williams, the Psychology of Drinking Water: An Exploratory Study, <i>Water Resources Research, 29</i>, pp. 4003-4010, 1993. D. G. Smith, A. M. Cragg, and G. F. Croker, Water Clarity Criteria for Bathing Waters Based on User Perception, <i>Journal of Environmental Management, 33</i>, pp. 285-299, 1991. D. G. Smith and R. J. Davies-Colley, Perception of Water Clarity and Colour in Terms of Suitability for Recreational Use, <i>Journal of Environmental Management, 36</i>, pp. 225-235, 1992. E. Woolmington and J. S. Burgess, Hedonistic Water Use and Low Flow Runoff in Australia's National Capital, <i>Urban Ecology, 7</i>, pp. 215-227, 1983. Water Authority of Western Australia, <i>Perth's Water Future</i>, WAWA, Perth, 1995. K. M. Beatty and J. C. Pierce, Representation and Public Involvement in Water Resources Politics: A Comparison of Six Participant Types, <i>Water Resources Bulletin, 12</i>, pp. 1005-1017, 1976. G. J. Syme and B. E. Nancarrow, Predicting Public Involvement in Urban Water Management and Planning, <i>Environment and Behavior, 24</i>, pp. 738-758, 1992. G. J. Syme, B. E. Nancarrow, B. J. Bishop, and P. Vanderwal, <i>Community Analysis of Household Water Pressure Satisfaction</i>, Research Report No. 40, Urban Water Research Association of Australia, Melbourne, 1992. J. C. Pierce and H. R. Doerksen, <i>Water Politics and Public Involvement</i>, Ann Arbor Science, Ann Arbor, 1976. K. K. Petersen and J. E. Dutton, Centrality, Extremity, Intensity: Neglected Variables in Attitude-Behaviour Consistency, <i>Social Forces, 54</i>, pp. 393-414, 1975. A. Tesser and D. R. Shaffer, Attitudes and Attitude Change, <i>Annual Review of Psychology, 41</i>, pp. 479-523, 1990. K. G. Jöreskog and D. Sörbom, <i>Prelis: A Program for Multivariate Data Screening and Data Summarization</i>, Scientific Software Inc., Mooresville, Indiana, 1988. M. J. Norusis, <i>SPSS/PC+ Advanced Statistics V2.0</i>, SPSS Inc., Chicago, Illinois, 1988. B. E. Nancarrow and G. J. Syme, <i>Improving Communication with the Public on Water Industry Policy Issues</i>, Urban Water Research Association of Australia, Melbourne, Research Report No. 6, 1989. J. D. Edwards and T. M. Ostrom, Cognitive Structure of Neutral Attitudes, <i>Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 7</i>, pp. 36-47, 1971. Y. F. Tuan, <i>Topophilia: A Study of Environmental Perception, Attitudes and Values</i>, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, 1974. G. J. Syme, C. Seligman, and J. F. Thomas, Predicting Water Consumption from Homeowners' Attitudes, <i>Journal of Environmental Systems, 20</i>, pp. 157-168, 1990/91. T. A. Heberlein and J. S. Black, Attitudinal Specificity and the Prediction of Behavior in a Field Setting, <i>Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 33</i>, pp. 474-479, 1976.