The Prediction of Ecological and Enviornmental Belief

Hodgkinson, Shari P; Innes, J. Michael (2000). The prediction of ecological and enviornmental belief systems: The differential contributions of social conservatism and beliefs about money. . Journal of Environmental Psychology. , 20, 3, 285-294.

It is noted that the environment and the economy are 2 of the most pertinent issues of society and are increasingly perceived as inter-related, highlighting the significance of understanding how the issues may be held in cognition. This study looks at the structure of personal belief systems to investigate how the social cognitions of the individual might be applicable to political and economic issues. In particular, the research explores the possibility of a predictive relationship between individual beliefs about money and social conservatism and beliefs about the environment and ecology. A questionnaire-based study employing 4 measures was conducted with 399 university students (aged 16-56 yrs). Findings suggest that ecology and environmentalism may be fundamentally different from one another as reflected by the contribution of different variables in the prediction of scale scores. It is concluded that results provide support for the hypothesis that ecological beliefs and environmental attitudes exist as separable cognitive structures.

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