A MEMETIC/PARTICIPATORY APPROACH FOR CHANGING SOCIAL BEHAVIORS AND PROMOTING ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP IN JALISCO, MEXICO
A MEMETIC/PARTICIPATORY APPROACH FOR CHANGING SOCIAL BEHAVIORS AND PROMOTING ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP IN JALISCO, MEXICO
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Date
2003-12-04
Authors
Robles Diaz de Leon, Luisa Fernanda
Advisor
Kangas, Patrick
Citation
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Abstract
This dissertation addressed the issue of sustainable development
at the level of individual behaviors. Environmental perceptions
were obtained from people living around the biosphere reserve
Chamela-Cuixmala in Jalisco, Mexico. Several environmental
issues were identified by the people, such as garbage and grey
water on the streets, burning plastics, and the lack of usage of
recreational areas. All these issues could be addressed with a
change in behavior by the villagers.
Familiarization activities were conducted to gain people's trust
in order to conduct a community forum. These activities included
giving talks to school children and organizing workshops.
Four different methodologies were generated using memetics and
participation to test which would ameliorate those environmental
issues identified by the people through a change in behavior. The
methodologies were 1) Memes; 2) Participation and Memes; 3)
Participation; 4) Neither Participation nor Memes.
A meme is an idea expressed within a linguistic structure or
architecture that provides it with self-disseminating and
self-protecting characteristics within and among the minds of
individuals congruent with their values, beliefs and filters.
Four villages were chosen as the treatments, and one as the
control, for a total of five experimental villages. A different
behavior was addressed in each treatment village (garbage,
grey-water, burning plastics, recreation.) A nonequivalent
control-group design was established. A pretest was conducted in
all five villages; the methodologies were tested in the four
treatment villages; a posttest was conducted on the five villages.
The pretest and posttest consisted in measuring sensory specific
indicators which are manifestations of behavior that can either be
seen, smelled, touched, heard or tasted.
Statistically significant differences in behavior from the control
were found for two of the methodologies 1) Memes (p=0.0403) and 2)
Participation and Memes (p=0.0064). For the methodologies of 3)
Participation alone and 4) Neither, the differences were not
significant (p=0.8827, p=0.5627 respectively).
When using memes, people's behavior improved when compared to the
control. Participation alone did not generate a significant
difference. Participation aided in the generation of the memes.
Memetics is a tool that can be used to establish a linkage between
human behavior and ecological health.