Download Environmental attitudes Importance of attitudes Attitudes are a basic

Environmental attitudes
Importance of attitudes
Attitudes are a basic, pervasive part of social life
Functional Approach – Katz (1960)
 Utilitarian – Helps the person to achieve rewards and gain approval from others
 Knowledge – Helps the person to structure the world so that it makes sense
 Ego defense – Helps the person create or maintain a positive sense of oneself
 Value-expressive – Helps the person express important aspects of the self-concept
Current Definition
Psychologists define an attitude as an enduring evaluation, positive or negative, of people, objects, or ideas.
(Eagly and Chaiken, 1998)
Environmental attitudes are defined as an individual’s concern for the physical environment.
3 Components of Attitudes
 Affective Component
o Affectively based attitudes are based more on people’s feelings and values than on their beliefs.
o Their function may be value-expressive.
o Affectively based attitudes may result from either classical conditioning or operant conditioning

Cognitive Component
o Cognitively based attitudes are based primarily on a person’s beliefs about the properties of the
attitude object.
o Their function is knowledge or utilitarian.
 Behavioral Component
o Behaviorally based attitudes are based on observations of how one behaves toward an attitude
object
o Their function is knowledge or utilitarian.
How do we measure attitudes?
Attitudes are hypothetical constructs, abstract concepts that cannot directly be observed
We Infer attitude usually by one of several methods:
 Overt behavior (Head Movements, Eye Contact, The lost letter technique)
 Self-reports (Attitude scales)
 Covert or implicit methods (IAT)
 Self-report Methods
 Interviews
 One-items rating scales
 Attitude scales
Problems with Self-report Measures
S-R assume that:
(1) people know what their attitudes are and
(2) they will report them honestly
Social desirability responding affects honestly
Ambivalence
Environmental Attitude Scales
New Environmental Paradigm (NEP) Scale (revised) – Dunlap et. al. (2000) 15-item scale
This scale is a measure of people's tendency to be pro-environmental.
Research has found that scores on the scale correlate with membership in environmental organizations and
other pro-environmental behaviors.
Dual Attitudes
 Explicit attitudes are attitudes that we consciously endorse and can easily report.
 Implicit attitudes are attitudes that are involuntary, uncontrollable, and at times unconscious.
Attitude Formation - How did you form your attitudes toward wind energy? Global Warming
Socialization is the gradual acquisition of language, attitudes, and other socially approved values through
reinforcement, observation and other learning processes
Attitude Formation Theories
 Genetic influence
 Mere Exposure - Zajonc
 Classical Conditioning – Pavlov
 Operant Conditioning – Thorndike, Skinner
 Social learning or observation – Bandura
Mere Exposure Effect (Zajonc, 1968)
Mere exposure effect is the tendency to develop more positive feelings toward objects and individuals the
more we are exposed to them
Over 100’s of studies confirm that mere exposure leads to greater liking
Classical Conditioning (Ivan Pavlov) - A form of association learning
A previously neutral stimulus (the conditioned stimulus) come to evoke a response that it did not previously
Many of our emotional responses to objects etc have been classically conditioned (affectively based attitudes)
Pavlov’s Experiment
Instrument Learning or Operant Conditioning
A type of learning in which behavior (or expressing an attitude) is strengthened if followed by a reinforcement
and weakened if followed by a punishment
E.L Thorndike – Trial and error learning (The law of effect and Law of Exercise)
B. F. Skinner – Operant Conditioning
Skinner believed that learning is learning the consequences of behaving or responding
You learn that a response (r) leads to a stimulus events or reinforcement (s)
A reinforcement is any stimulus event that strengthens the behavior it follows
Social Learning Theory (Bandura)
According to Bandura, we often learn our attitudes by modeling or observational learning
We observe and imitate the actions and attitudes expressed by social models such as parents and peers.
Attitude and Behavior - Is there a relationship between environmental attitudes and behavior?
Relationship between environmental attitudes and behavior has shown a lot of inconsistent results
Jody Hines and colleagues (1986) did a meta-analysis on environmental attitudes and behavior (128 different
studies)
They were able to show that the relationship between attitudes and behavior is positive although not very
strong
Attitude and behavior are more related when actual behavior and not self-reported behavior is measured.
The theory of reasoned action (TRA) (Fishbone & Ajzen, 1975) was developed in response to research on the
weakness of attitudes in predicting behaviors
The theory of planned behavior (TPB) extended the TRA to include Perceived Behavioral Control