THE NEW ECOLOGICAL PARADIGM IN SOCIAL-PSYCHOLOGICAL CONTEXT

The New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) scale is the most frequently used me asure of environmental concern, but it has not been placed in the cont ext of a social-psychological theory of attitude formation or attitude -behavior relationships. Using data from a northern Virginia sample, t his study examines NEP in relation to the variables in a theoretical m odel of environmental concern. We found that the NEP is indistinguisha ble from a scale of awareness of consequences (AC) of general environm ental conditions, both psychometrically and in terms of its relations to behavioral intentions, but somewhat different in its relations to b asic value orientations and sociodemographic variables. We conclude th at both NEP and AC measure generalized beliefs about the nature of hum an-environment interactions-or ''folk ecology''-a set of beliefs that may be influenced by social structure and values and that influence at titudes, beliefs, and behavioral intentions regarding specific environ mental conditions.