MUDDY WATERS AND HEAVY-METAL - TIME AND ATTITUDES GUIDE JUDGMENTS OF POLLUTION

Following an incident of serious river pollution from a disused mine, postal surveys of local residents were conducted approximately 6 weeks (n=536) and then 8 months (n=417) after the spillage. Questions asses sed residents' evaluations of the severity of the pollution, trust in expert reassurances, attributions of responsibility and attitudes on o ther environmental issues. Respondents at time 1 were more pessimistic than those at time 2 in their estimates of the levels of pollution th at would persist 6 months and 10 years later, whereas time 2 responden ts gave more negative estimates of levels of pollution that existed be fore and immediately after the spillage. Time 2 respondents were less inclined to assign personal responsibility for the incident. On both o ccasions, women gave higher estimates of pollution and were more prepa red to assign blame than men. These ratings covaried with other enviro nmental attitudes, especially relating to nuclear power. We argue that the perceived time course of environmental impact deserves further re search attention and conclude that these data support a conception of attitudes as structures of evaluative associations, stored in memory, which can guide interpretation of information in specific contexts. (C ) 1998 Academic Press.