The current study examines how to introduce complex novelty in a way that people become more interested, motivated to know more about it, and less confused. We test the prediction that a focus on...Show moreThe current study examines how to introduce complex novelty in a way that people become more interested, motivated to know more about it, and less confused. We test the prediction that a focus on discovery of new information vs a focus on specific information that is missing creates more interest, more motivation to explore, and less confusion towards complex innovations, while perceived complexity is predicted to remain the same. In total 102 participants were tested. They were presented with message framing manipulation, which put their focus on either general discovery or specific information that is missing, after which they had to read texts containing complex information. In contrast to our expectations, complexity did not remain the same across conditions. Participants in the diversive frame condition rated the information about the innovations to be more complex than the specific frame condition. Moreover, participants in the diversive frame condition were not more interested, more motivated to and less confused about the complex innovations than in the specific frame condition. Implication and future research of these findings are discussed at the end.Show less
Value in nature has often been studied from two perspectives, either externally or internally. Schools of intrinsic value like deep ecology have been found extreme in the past, their implications...Show moreValue in nature has often been studied from two perspectives, either externally or internally. Schools of intrinsic value like deep ecology have been found extreme in the past, their implications undesirable to humans. External perspectives like anthropocentric value judgements, for example ecosystem-service arguments, or considerations of intergenerational justice have become increasingly common and well researched. However, this thesis starts from the observation that anthropocentric value based morality does little to protect ecosystems for their own sake. Instead, it merely focuses on those parts that either appeal, service, or otherwise are useful to humans. It is especially this perception of ecosystems that lies at the root of current and past exploitation of the ecosystem. The result is nearly irreversible damage to the ecosystem. This thesis argues for pro tanto moral rights for the ecosystem, on the basis of interest-based moral considerability. I will show that previous arguments for or against the moral considerability of nature lack sufficient knowledge of ecological processes. If ecological processes are properly understood, the ecosystem can be said to have an interest. This interest, or wellbeing, is the striving towards homeostasis. This means that the ecosystem has moral considerability and is a moral patient. It is therefore eligible for moral rights. These rights-relations occur between moral agents and moral patient when there is contact. This will be explained through developing the Contact-Theory.Show less
