Adapting Presentation Modes to Cultural Backgrounds in Environmental Projects: The Effect of Reading/Writing Habits

Fenianos Johnny^1,2, Khater Carla^2* & Brouillet Denis¹

¹University Paul Valéry, Laboratoire Epsylon, Montpellier, France
²Center for Remote Sensing- National Council for Scientific Research Lebanon, Lebanon

Dr. Khater Carla, Center for Remote Sensing- National Council for Scientific Research Lebanon, Lebanon.

Keywords: Cognitive Tools; Environmental Psychology; Reading/Writing Habits; Lateral Perception; Ecological Rehabilitation; Quarries; Lebanon

Abstract

Communicating with key stakeholders is an essential factor of success in all environmental projects. Literature findings confirm that laterality and in particular writing/reading habits play a crucial role in modifying perceptions. In this paper, we test the influence of reading/writing habits on the expression of the visual appreciation of an image, on two groups of 40 right-handed Lebanese students (sinistroverse vs. bilateral readers/writers) aged 16 to 19. Lebanon is a multicultural country where students study either exclusively in Arabic or are exposed to both Arabic and French, and/or English cultures. 32 images of common flora (plants) and fauna (animals) that could be used in quarry rehabilitation projects, were displayed on a computer screen for appreciation and the results showed that, in the case of exclusively Arabic speaking target communities, using adapted tools such as an inverted Likert scale bar could allow a better expression of the true perceptions of a community. When it comes to the successful implementation of environmental projects, our results open the floor, to the necessity of understanding lateral perception of target communities especially in terms of reading/writing direction, in adapting the tools during public hearings and presentations.

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. (CC BY 4.0).