GOAL ORIENTATION, NORMS, AND NOISE-INDUCED CONFLICT AMONG RECREATION AREA USERS

This study evaluated Jacob and Schreyer's (1980) theory of recreation conflict using data from a survey of winter visitors to Padre Island N ational Seashore, Texas. Jacob and Schreyer defined interpersonal conf lict as goal interference attributed to the behavior of another and pr oposed that variations in the standards of appropriate behavior for a setting were a major source of such interference. However, their theor y did not address the possibility that some goals may be more vulnerab le to interference from physically obtrusive behavior than others. In this study, visitors motivated by the goal to be with people who were considerate and respectful of others were more likely to perceive inte rference from loud radios than were visitors motivated by the goal to be with friends and other people like themselves. We concluded from th is that the more that goal achievement rests on factors beyond the dir ect control of the actor, the greater the actor's vulnerability to goa l interference. Visitors whose individual norms for radio volumes were equal to or less tolerant than the social norm were more likely to ex perience interference from radios whose loudness exceeded the social n orm, supporting the role of normative violations in recreation conflic t. Finally, although the potential for conflicts between recreation ac tivities was high at this site, non-activity-based behavior, such as l ittering, drunkenness, and rowdiness, was rated as a more serious sour ce of interference by visitors.