Psychological data from scientists in the field and support staff at Scott Base to understand the social and psychological aspects of ethical decision making (environmental protection vs work tasks)

Antarctica is a pristine and fragile environment. People working there need to balance the need for environmental protection against the demands of their task while they are on the ice.The social and psychological aspects of the ethical decision making of people working in the Antarctic environment was investigated with the goal of developing a better undertanding of the individual and group influences on individuals making such decisions. The main objective of the study was to investigate the association between environmental decision processes and group norms, social networks, the need for cognition and environmental worldviews. Data was gathered by a semi structure in-depth interviews (which sought information about processes and networks) of scientists and support staff at their locations in the field or at Scott Base, a questionnaire (NEP-R which tapped individual disposition towards cognition and the environment) and a sheet of demographic information. A questionnaire about environmental world views and information about the social network in field parties or at base was also collected. The data was analysed for common trends and themes in the decision making processes that individual members of these groups use for their choices and behaviours, how social relationships in these groups influence or facilitate decision making about environmental ethics (social network mapping) and the demographic data was analysed to examine whether it has an effect on any of the trends detected.