A social compass for the natural world: Fishing participation is driven by social influence

How humans interact with the natural world bears heavily upon natural resource management and conservation. Declines in outdoor activities like recreational fishing therefore portend looming changes to the common practices of fisheries management. Broadscale trends in fishing participation reflect prevailing norms related to interactions with the environment created at the societal level. However, previous human dimensions of fisheries research has predominantly explored phenomena existing within individuals. I therefore drew from theories in social psychology to understand and quantify how social influence is manifested in an individual’s behavior. My research approaches this issue with four studies. The first assessed the spatial relationship between the sale of fishing licenses and population level data across the state of Illinois to understand regional patterns of participation. I found that license sales were negatively correlated with population density across the state, but that spatial patterns emerged when correlations between variables were assessed at local scales. The second study evaluated the role of environmental identity versus contextual behavioral constraints to participation to understand how social-psychological variables compare to external variables in shaping continued fishing intentions among current Illinois anglers (N = 1,000). I found that environmental identity explained more variance in fishing intentions than did external factors like contextual constraints. The third study sought to understand the mechanism by which social influence manifests in behavior at the individual level by evaluating the relationship between socialization, personal identity, and intended fishing behavior among Illinois anglers (N = 1,000). I found that personal identity fully mediated the relationship between socialization and intended behavior, offering a mechanistic explanation for how social influence drives environmental behavior. The fourth study sought to understand how environmental behaviors function as signals of identity by assessing how hypothetical dating profiles featuring portrayals of consumptive (fishing), appreciative (hiking), or no environmental behavior affected romantic appraisals by dating app users (N = 724). I found that profiles with portrayals of appreciative environmental behavior were rated as less attractive and compatible than those featuring no environmental behavior at all, raising questions about how identity signals related to the environment are perceived. Overall, these findings offer insights into how behavior in the natural world is informed by influence from the social world.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Natural Res & Env Sciences

Grantor

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2025

Author dc:creator

• Joffe-Nelson, North

Contributors dc:contributor

• van Riper , Carena J
• Wardropper , Chloe
• Cohen, Dov
• Parkos III, Joseph
• Hunt , Len

• recreational fishing
• symbolic interactionism
• behavioral modeling
• environmental science

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2025 North Joffe-Nelson

Language dc:language

en, eng

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/129295

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=etdms&identifier=oai%3Awww.ideals.illinois.edu%3A2142%2F129295