Download - A Structural Analysis of Environmental Attitudes: Contrast and Assimilation Effects in Dualistic Optimal-Use and Preservationist Attitudes

Running head: Structural Analysis of Environmental Attitudes

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A Structural Analysis of Environmental Attitudes: Contrast and Assimilation Effects

in Dualistic Optimal-Use and Preservationist Attitudes

Read, S. P.1 and Innes, J. M.2

1Research School of Management, Australian National University

2Australian College of Applied Psychology

This research was conducted at Murdoch University, Perth, Australia.

Address Correspondence to: Dr J. Michael InnesShari Read, School of PsychologyResearch

School of Management, Australian College of Applied PsychologyNational University, Level

5, 11 York Street, Sydney, NSWCanberra, ACT 02000, Australia.

E-mail: [email protected]@anu.edu.au Formatted: Default Paragraph Font,Font: (Default) Arial


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Abstract

This study explored the structure of environmental attitudes. Specifically, we examined

the extent to which the content of attitudinal structures might vary according to the context in

which it is accessed. Using the method of word association, the research addressed the

question of whether a highly accessible attitude can spread to influence the content of related

attitudes. Two scales, which measure different aspects of attitudes toward the environment,

were used to prime respondents to the attitudinal constructs of either optimal environmental

management or ecological preservation. Respondents were then asked to free associate to the

stimulus concepts of ‘economic development’ and ‘environmental preservation’. Findings

support the hypothesis that there are two distinct attitudinal structures related to the

environment, one related to optimal use of the environment and the other focused on

ecological preservation. Further, findings suggest that attitude priming affects core

associations to a stimulus concept, while context effects, such as the order in which stimuli

are presented, are influential over peripheral associations. Specifically in relation to

environmental cognition, in order to enable ‘green’ behavior, ecological, rather than socio-

politically oriented environmental attitude structures need to be made salient. Implications for

social marketing and enhancing support for public policy are discussed.

Keywords: attitude structure, ecological, environmental, priming, word association,

environmental cognition.


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A Structural Analysis of Environmental Attitudes

Climate change scientists from all fields of science, from all parts of the world, have

reached near-unanimous agreement, that the mean global temperature has increased

significantly from pre-industrial-age levels and that human activities are the primary cause

(Ding, Maibrach, Zhao, Roser-Renouf and Leiserowitz, 2011). However, despite scientific

consensus, the general public in most developed countries appears to remain unconvinced

that government policy and changes to everyday behaviours are urgently required to address

issues of climate change adaptation (Leviston, Price, Malkin and McCrea, 2014). In broad

terms, people in Westernized nations are willing to acknowledge that the natural environment

is a valuable resource that warrants human protection, however, scientists, public policy

makers, environmental activist groups and even green marketing have largely failed in their

attempts to motivate the masses to engage in the widespread social change that is required to

effectively address climate change (Ding et al., 2011; Phipps et al., 2013; Lewandowsky,

Gignac and Vaughn, 2012).

Consumption and consumerism are a large part of post-industrial everyday life in

developed countries. Research on ‘green consumerism’ and environmentally sustainable

behavior collectively provide support for two contradictory positions. On the one hand,

consumer research shows that people are willing to purchase ‘environmentally-friendly’

goods and services, while on the other hand, there is evidence showing that patterns of

adoption behavior are unpredictable (Ramirez, 2013). Despite widespread pro-environmental

attitudes, consumers frequently purchase the non-green alternative (Olson, 2013). Similarly,

consumers develop personal norms based on their beliefs about who is responsible for a given

outcome of environmentally significant behaviours and are thus shown to be contradictory in

what they say, compared to what they ultimately choose to do in a given context (Stern,

2000). One such context, which has been shown to influence environmental behaviours,


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including support for climate change policies, is the socio-political context (Ding et al, 2011;

McCright, Dunlap and Xiao, 2013). While seemingly in opposition, both left and right are

embedded in an ideology of ‘consumerism’ and development. Both focus on economic

growth, but differ in the method of distribution. Attitudes toward the environment can be

integrated into capitalist systems through environmental accounting procedures, or into

socialist reform by focusing on equality and rights. Similarly, distinguishing left and right in

terms of conservatism and liberalism, the environment is still conceptualized in terms of a

resource to be utilized to maintain status quo or pursue a greater common welfare.

Environmentalism and attitudes toward the natural environment, in this view, when used to

consider matters of environmental management, continue to be influenced by traditional

aspects of socio-political beliefs of right and left politics. On the other hand, preservationist

ideals, attitudes regarding the balance of nature and its ecological systems (referred to here on

as ‘ecologism’), may be structurally separate to environmentalism (Dobson, 1995). That is, it

is hypothesized that ecologism will not be associated with the traditional ideologies in the

same way as environmentalism. Dunlap and Van Liere (1978) used the term New

Environmental Paradigm (NEP), as opposed to the Dominant Social Paradigm (DSP), to

distinguish these orientations towards the management of the environment and developed the

widely used NEP scale to measure attitudes and beliefs about the environment and its

management (Dunlap, 2008).

This paper aims to provide support for the distinction between these two types of

environmental concern and, in addition, suggest that people are dualistic in their personal

ideologies, holding elements of both systems of environmental cognition simultaneously.

Rather than people being pro- or anti-environmental. With this research, we aim to provide

support for the hypothesis that different types of concern for the natural environment exist as

an intra-personal distinction rather than as a inter-individual dissimilarity (Milbrath, 1986).


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We suggest that environmentalism and ecologism may be independent alternatives within a

broader structure of environmental cognition rather than opposing worldviews. But while

environmentalism may be related to other socio-economic belief systems, it is hypothesized

that ecologism is not related in the same manner and may be less influential when the dual

attitude structures are primed as it has, for most people with Westernized cognitive processes,

fewer associative links within the attitudinal network.

A number of studies have examined the relationship between the DSP and

environmental attitudes and willingness to change behaviours, finding that there is a negative

relationship between the factors and further, that adherence to the DSP serves to dampen the

positive effect between environmental attitudes and willingness to change (Kilbourne and

Carlson, 2008). Kilbourne, Beckmann & Thelen (2002) have suggested that the DSP, rather

than the NEP, continues to play the greater role in guiding actions towards the environment,

as exemplified in opinion polling in several countries showing the waning support for

advocates of global warming and the ongoing support for the “climate skeptics” (e.g.

Leviston et al., 2014). Kilbourne et al. (2002) further demonstrated that as one's belief in the

DSP increases, their expressed concern for the environment decreases and, from the other

perspective, that as concern for the environment increases, their perception of necessary

changes and willingness to change to achieve environmental balance will also increase.

However, we know from findings of research examining consumer behaviour and policy

support, that the relationship between political ideology, environmental attitudes and

behaviours isn’t that direct. Henry and Dietz (2012) suggest that environmental cognition be

understood in terms of a two-dimensional space whereby individuals may be placed on a

continuum of engagement with the natural environment on one dimension and involvement in

environmental policy and ‘sub-policy’ (or policy-related) activities on the other dimension.

However, in order to fully understand fully the nature of environmental cognition, we need to


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understand the attitudes and beliefs that underlie an individual’s level of engagement with the

natural environmental or indeed, support for policy pertaining to the environment. From this

point, we might then be able to ascertain the extent to which particular attitudinal structures,

when salient, lead an individual to engagement or involvement and further, whether the

hypothesized association between socio-political beliefs and environmentalism enables or

blocks an individual’s ‘green’ behaviour.

The present study was designed to explore the individual structure of attitudes held by

a person and to demonstrate the co-existence of different forms of environmental cognition. It

uses a methodology based upon the analysis of associations between words (Innes, 1972),

and explores the degree to which the beliefs a person holds are representative of the

associations between concepts in language. The study presented here tested whether the

cognitive context created by priming respondents to ecological/preservationist or to

environmental/optimal-use concepts, could influence access of the internal structure of each

of the attitudes. Therefore, based on the hypothesis that ecological attitudes form a separate,

and relatively independent, structure from environmental attitudes, we expected that priming

would result in qualitative differences in association outputs.

The method assesses whether the content of associations to two environmentally

relevant concepts can be differentially influenced. Consider the two concepts environmental

protection and economic development. These concepts each have a different meaning to

optimal environment users, for example corporate managers and economists, compared to

those with a more ecological orientation such as wildlife conservation officers or marine

biologists. Based on historic and contemporary evidence, optimal users perceive

environmental protection as a product of industrial society; while businesses should do all

they can to protect the natural environmental, they are free to continue to use renewable and

non-renewable resources ‘thoughtfully’. On the other hand ecologists perceive the natural


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world to be intrinsically valuable and seek to protect the environment as an activity far

removed from the activities of business and industry. Environmental protection is thus seen

as being about conservation, in a form that respects nature, and doesn’t base its worth on

economic potential.

The concept of economic development also has different meanings to each of the two

groups. To optimal-use believers, economic development is about using the natural

environment and its resources to improve the well-being and lifestyle opportunities of

humans in a manner that is mindful of the delicacy of the natural environment, and is a

necessary and positive part of human society. However, ecologists do not perceive economic

development as a substantive component of society and argue that it is, in fact, the cause of

many environmental problems such as the depletion of resources or the pollution of rivers

and other waterways. This research is designed to demonstrate that these distinctions,

typically made between groups, might also be influential within the environmental cognition

of the individual.

Based on findings from previous research (Hodgkinson & Innes, 2001; 2000;

Kemmellmeier et al., 2002; Lundmark, 2007), it is hypothesized that respondents who are

primed to attitudes pertaining to environmentalism/optimal-use will, as a result of the extent

to which environmental attitudes are embedded in the higher order structure of socio-political

attitudes, through a spreading activation effect, produce associations that are related to

concepts such as government processes and unemployment.

On the other hand, priming an ecological belief system will produce negatively toned

associations, such as “waste”, “mining” and “nuclear”, in relation to economic development,

but will result in more ecological or ‘green’ associations such as “animal habitat” and “forest

protection” for associations to environmental protection. However, it is anticipated that there

will be overlap between associative outputs of the dual structures of environmental cognition.


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That is, we anticipate a degree of congruency between the structures and use a method of

analysis to enable a quantitative estimate of the degree of overlap.

Method

Two attitude scales were employed as priming tools to increase the accessibility of the

associated attitude structures. The New Environmental Paradigm (NEP) was used to prime

participants to ecological attitudes. The NEP was developed by Dunlap and Van Liere (1978)

to measure attitudes that endorse ecological principles and has been found by other

researchers to have internal consistency, to be unidimensional and to have appropriate levels

of predictive, content and construct validity, (e.g. Noe & Snow, 1990 and later in a review by

Hawcrift and Milfont, 2010). The measure used to prime participants to

environmental/optimal use attitudes was the Environmental Attitudes Scale (EAS), developed

by Forgas and Jolliffe (1994) and was chosen as it includes items that relate to optimal use as

well as it being socially and culturally relevant to the intended participants in the study. This

scale also has appropriate levels of internal consistency and content and construct validity.

Participants

One hundred students from a Western Australian university took part in this study. The

sample ranged in age from 17 to 55 with an average age of 24.8 years (standard deviation =

10.8 years). The sample was 91% female which reflects the fact that students were recruited

from nursing, education and psychology to make up a convenience sample. The participants

were randomly assigned to one of the four experimental conditions, resulting in 25

participants in each group.

Measures & Procedure


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The study used a pen and paper questionnaire for each of the two parts of the study. Four

separate questionnaires each represented one of the four experimental conditions. Two of the

questionnaires presented the New Environmental Paradigm scale (NEP) (Dunlap & Van

Liere, 1978), while the remaining two included the Environmental Attitude Scale (EAS)

(Forgas & Jolliffe, 1994).

Following the attitude measure, each of the questionnaires presented the two

concepts, environmental protection (P) and economic development (D), to elicit word

associations differentially reflecting the environmentalist or ecologist attitude structures.

The concepts of environmental protection and economic development were counterbalanced

within both the NEP primed group and the EAS primed group, forming four experimental

conditions (NEP P/D; NEP D/P; EAS P/D; EAS D/P).

Respondents were given a maximum of 15 minutes to complete the attitude measure

and the association task and were asked to attempt to write down seven (7) associations for

each stimulus concept. Space was provided for additional thoughts if participants associated

more than seven constructs with the stimuli. The time limit was enforced to encourage initial

associations rather than considered responses.

Results

Plural and singular versions of the same association were combined, for example

‘forests’ and ‘forest’. Similarly, for associations where the meaning was consistent, they were

recorded under the same heading. For example ‘bus’, ‘buses’ and ‘public transport’ were

each recorded under the heading of transport.

Fuzzy Set Analysis


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To explore the extent to which each word belongs to the ‘core set’ of associations for

each of the stimuli, fuzzy set theory was employed. If the primes (NEP & EAS) do influence

the content of associations, then the structure of those associations should differ between the

conditions. To measure these differences accurately, a method of determining whether an

association actually ‘belongs' with the ‘set’ created within a condition was needed. Fuzzy set

theory offers this possibility and provides a method to determine the extent to which an

association belongs to the core set of associations (Smithson, 1987).

To illustrate how Fuzzy Subset Theory applies to the word associations in this study, let:

- subset = condition [NEP (P/D) or NEP (D/P) or EAS (P/D) or EAS (D/P)];

- value (x) = the frequency with which a particular association appeared within a given

condition;

- min (x) = the minimum number of mentions required for an association to acquire a

degree of membership to the set of associations for that condition (associations having a

degree of membership to the set represent the ‘peripheral’ associations for that condition);

and

- max (x) = the number of associations required for an association to gain full membership

of the set of associations for that condition (associations gaining full membership

represent the ‘core’ associations for that condition).

Weighting of Frequencies

As well as the frequency with which an association appears within a condition, it is

important to take account of the order in which an association is produced. Associations that

are produced first by a relatively large number of respondents are arguably more strongly

related to the stimulus than, for example, the seventh association produced by only one

respondent (Eagly & Chaiken, 1993). In order for this effect to be reflected by the fuzzy set


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analysis it was necessary to weight the associations according to the order in which they are

produced by each individual. For the fuzzy set analysis of the data collected in this

experiment, the first four associations from each respondent for environmental protection and

economic development separately, were assigned a weighting of 2 points. The final three

associations produced by a respondent for each stimulus were given 1 point.

Fuzzy Subsets for environmental protection and economic development

The fuzzy analysis of the data for this study was based on the rule that to belong to the

fuzzy set of associations about each of the stimuli, environmental protection or economic

development, the minimum value to obtain a degree of membership would be 5 and the

maximum value (representing complete membership) would be 15.

degree of membership (x) = {0, if fq(x) < 5,

[fq(x) – 5]/10, if 5< = fq(x) < = 15,

1, if fq(x) > 15}

Table 1 shows the degree of membership of the sets of associations belonging to each

condition for the stimulus environmental protection and Table 2 the comparable data for

responses to the stimulus economic development, with total number of associations in the

structures and the measures of association of membership. Tables 1 and 2 also show, in

italics, the associations (and the degree of membership) that appear exclusively in the set of

associations to stimuli in the particular condition. The unique associations reveal the specific

effects of the experimental manipulations on the structure of the associations.


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Table 1.

Degree of membership of the core set for environmental protection

Condition Index Condition Index Condition Index Condition Index

NEP(P/D) NEP(D/P) EAS(P/D) EAS(D/P)

forest >1 animals >1 animals >1 recycling >1

Greenpeace >1 Greenpeace >1 greenhouse >1 protection 0.8

recycling >1 forest 0.9 logging >1 pollution 0.7

animals 0.9 protection 0.8 pollution >1 nuclear 0.5

pollution 0.8 recycling 0.8 protection >1 cars 0.4

resources 0.8 endangered 0.6 recycling >1 Greenpeace 0.4

garbage 0.6 Greens 0.4 forest 0.4 plants 0.4

logging 0.6 nuclear 0.4 gases 0.4 balance 0.3

ozone layer 0.4 trees 0.4 cars 0.3 chemicals 0.3

alternatives 0.3 nature 0.3 extinction 0.3 greenhouse 0.2

extinction 0.3 ozone layer 0.3 future 0.3 logging 0.2

Note. Bold indicates core associations with membership indices >1.0.

Italics indicate core associations that are unique to that experimental condition.

greenhouse 0.3 destruction 0.2 Greens 0.3 transport 0.2

nuclear 0.3 future 0.2 ozone layer 0.3 rainforest 0.2

caring 0.1 rainforest 0.2 resources 0.2 water 0.2

plants 0.1 human

domination

0.1 water 0.2 animals 0.1

logging 0.1 chemicals 0.1 protest 0.1

survival 0.1 nuclear 0.1 resources 0.1


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Table 2. Degree of membership of the core set for economic development

Condition Index Condition Index Condition Index Condition Index

NEP(P/D) NEP(D/P) EAS(P/D) EAS(D/P)

industry >1 growth >1 employment >1 money 0.9

money 0.8 industry >1 money >1 employment 0.8

technology 0.8 money >1 building 0.7 industry 0.6

greed 0.5 business 0.3 pollution 0.4 cities 0.3

pollution 0.5 government 0.3 business 0.3 development 0.3

growth 0.4 technology 0.3 growth 0.2 technology 0.3

building 0.3 economy 0.2 interest 0.2 pollution 0.2

third world 0.3 employment 0.2 government 0.1 economy 0.1

change 0.2 expansion 0.2 tax 0.1 education 0.1

poverty 0.1 greed 0.2

building 0.1

environmental

compatibility

0.1

future 0.1

stock market 0.1

trade 0.1

Note. Bold indicates core associations with membership indices >1.0.

Italics indicate core associations that are unique to that experimental condition.


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Effects of Primes on Core Associations

Examination of the total associations for those participants assigned to the NEP prime

and to the EAS prime showed no differences in the total number of associations in the

structures or in the number of associations having core membership. There were however,

more unique associations generated in the NEP prime groups. Examination of these tables

also shows little difference in the content of the associations summed across the two primes.

Effects of Stimulus Concepts on Core Associations

From a further comparison of the two tables, it can be seen first, that there were fewer

associations to economic development than to environmental protection that were measurable

as members of the set of responses to these stimuli. Second, there were proportionately fewer

associations that were core members of the set, with membership indices greater than unity,

in responses to economic development. Responses to the concept of environmental protection

showed that there were more associations with higher levels of membership indices.

Proportionately, there are more unique associations to economic development than

there are to environmental protection. The content of the associations also reflect the valence

of the stimulus concept; development elicits development thoughts, protection elicits thoughts

about recycling, nature and forests, at least with respect to the core, shared associations.

It is evident, however, that the attitude prime and/or the order of presentation of the

stimuli had differential effects on the attitude structures through increasing the accessibility

of specific types of associations. These unique associations are almost invariably weak

members of the set of associations, with membership indices of less than 0.3. Core

associations tend to be shared across stimulus conditions. The theme for each set of unique

and peripheral associations is different for each condition.


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Contextual Effects

There is evidence of contextual effects upon the associative structures generated by of

the prime and the order of presentation of the stimulus concepts. Examination of the

associative structures for the NEP prime groups for the conditions where there was congruity

between the nature of the prime and the stimulus concept (NEP prime with environmental

protection) show slightly greater structural associations than in the incongruent conditions.

For the EAS prime condition there was an opposite effect; EAS/development condition (18

total associations as members) compared with the EAS/protection condition (34

associations). This latter difference holds also when the core associations are tallied.

The experimental group which stands out is the group which was primed with the

EAS scale and completed the word association tasks in the order of economic development

followed by environmental protection. This group produced fewer core associations than any

other group. Further, in response to economic development, after the identification of the

weak core members of the set, there was a rapid falling away in the magnitude of

membership index of all associations, indicating weak associative links to that stimulus. The

contextual effects are revealed most strongly in the content of the peripheral, non-shared

associations elicited.

Effects on Associative Content (peripheral and non-shared associations )

The unique set of associations found to be partial members of a specific condition set

reflect the combined effects of the attitudinal prime and the context created by the order of

presentation of the stimulus concepts.

For the NEP conditions, associations about environmental protection unique to the

condition when this concept is presented first (NEP (P/D)), include garbage, alternatives and

caring. After responding to the stimulus economic development first (NEP (D/P)), the


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peripheral associations about environmental protection include the concepts of endangered,

trees, nature, destruction, human domination and survival. The peripheral association set for

the NEP (D/P) condition reveals an awareness of the consequences of human domination and

of the objects most affected by these consequences. The NEP (P/D) set, on the other hand,

reveals less ‘desperate’ associations. The associations caring and alternatives are more gentle

approaches to solving environmental problems. The peripheral associations for the NEP

(P/D) and the NEP (D/P) conditions are indicative of a contrast effect (Schwarz and Strack,

1991), whereby salient preservationist cognition activated by the NEP provides a context for

associations. Respondents in the NEP (D/P) condition considered the concept of

environmental protection in contrast to economic development after being primed by the

ecologically oriented NEP scale. A possible explanation of this finding is that the sequential

order of presentation of the stimuli increases affective response to the environmental stimuli,

an area for further research.

Similarly, the NEP (D/P) condition unique associations to economic development

included expansion, environmental compatibility, future, stockmarket and trade, while the

NEP (P/D) condition peripheral set included the concepts of third world, change and poverty.

Therefore, associating about economic development prior to encountering the stimulus

concept environmental protection, increases the accessibility of market-oriented associations

to economic development. However, in the context of previously thinking about

environmental protection, associations relating to social justice are more likely to be

accessed.

In the EAS prime conditions, peripheral associations to economic development

resulted in a set including interest and taxes, supporting the hypothesis that the EAS would

prime respondents to think about political processes. The unique peripheral associations

produced in the EAS (D/P) condition included, cities, development and education, arguably


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more environmentally positive concepts than interest and taxes, evoking images of progress

and advancement of human endeavors.

Discussion

This study was designed to investigate the structure of environmental cognition

dependent on the context in which it is assessed. Respondents were asked to produce free

associations to the concepts of environmental protection and economic development. Word

associations to each of the two stimulus concepts were produced in one of two priming

conditions, the NEP, which primed participants to their ecological attitudes, or the EAS

designed to activate socio-politically oriented environmental attitudes. The stimuli were

counterbalanced to allow the measurement of context effects of thinking about one or the

other first. The semantic space for each of the four conditions was analyzed to find

substructures of words that remain stable within the two primes and to discover if there were

associations to each of the stimulus concepts that are stable across conditions. These stable

structures are taken to represent the ‘core set’ of associations which indicate the shared

understanding of environmental protection and economic development.

The differences between these peripheral sets of associations reflect the context effect

created by thinking about economic development prior to thinking about environmental

protection. These findings reflect a contrast effect as described by Schwarz and Strack

(1991). Strack, Schwarz and Gschneidinger (1985) found that highly accessible historic

information about a person’s own life influenced the judgment about current happiness and

well-being, if it pertained directly to the respondent’s present living conditions. On the other

hand, if the accessible information was not relevant to the individual’s current situation, it

served as a salient standard of comparison and resulted in a contrast effect. These findings


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suggest that assimilation effects occur if the previously activated information is included in

the representation that respondents form of the target category that is to be evaluated. If the

activated information pertains to a different category, it is excluded from the representation of

the category. However, the accessible information may still bear on the dimension of

judgment and may serve as standards of comparison or as reference points for anchoring the

response scale. “Either of these processes, comparison or anchoring, may result in contrast

effects” (Schwarz & Strack, 1991, p.39).

In applying Schwarz and Strack’s findings to the present study, it would appear that

participants in the NEP (D/P) condition excluded the salient associations about economic

development when they encountered the stimulus concept environmental protection, resulting

in a comparison based contrast effect. The effect of the NEP prime is still evident in the core

associations. However, the dominant socio-political attitudes activated by the economic

development stimulus produce this, somewhat defensive, contrast effect within the peripheral

associations. Therefore, regardless of an individual’s alliance with the NEP, salient ecological

attitudes combined, in sequence with accessible cognition associated with concepts related to

economic development, appear to create a contextual environment that enables the types of

cognition congruent with engagement in ‘green’ behavior and support for environmental

policy. Further research is needed to determine the generalizability of this finding and its

applicability to social marketing.

Salient ecological attitudes produce a very ‘green’ cognitive state for the individual,

more so than salient environmental attitudes (NEP average scores are consistently stronger

than EAS average scores (Hodgkinson & Innes, 2001; 2000). Therefore, it was reasonable to

expect an assimilation effect when environmental protection is the first of the two concepts

encountered following the NEP prime (NEP (P/D); that is, people produce associations that

are, colloquially, as ‘green as they get’. On the other hand, the NEP (D/P) peripheral


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associations reveal a strong contrast effect produced by the stimulus economic development.

First, the NEP prime serves to increase the accessibility of ecological attitudes, then the

economic development stimulus increases the salience of attitudes related to the DSP,

enhanced further by the effects of chronic accessibility. Next, when the environmental

protection stimulus is presented, with both sets of attitudes accessible, the dominant attitudes

are used to generate associations to the stimulus. However, when the dominant attitudes are

judged to be inapplicable to the stimulus, a contrast effect is produced and, assisted by the

salience of ecological attitudes, we find the strongly preservationist associations observed

(e.g. endangered, destruction, human domination). Further research examining this effect,

specifically in relation to support for climate change policy, could reveal a highly effectual

technique to be used in social marketing campaigns.

The effects of chronic accessibility (as described by Higgins & Brendl, 1995) are also

evident in the association sets produced in the EAS conditions, particularly for associations

about environmental protection. However, for both stimuli, the core association set of EAS

(D/P) is completely contained within the core set of EAS (P/D). A larger number of

associations about environmental protection are available to EAS respondents when it is not

considered within the context of economic development, suggesting that economic

development associations suppress the content of information associated with environmental

protection. This finding further supports the argument that, for most individuals, accessible

socio-political attitudes continue to be dominant, particularly over salient ecological attitudes.

This findings suggests that, in terms of application in a social marketing milieu, ‘green’

behaviours and decision-making, for many individuals, are likely to be blocked where social-

political attitudes are salient together with economic considerations.


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Conclusions

The findings of this study suggest that attitude priming affects core associations to a

stimulus concept, while context effects, such as the order in which stimuli are presented, are

influential over peripheral associations. Specifically in relation to environmental cognition, in

order to enable ‘green’ behavior, ecological, rather than socio-politically oriented

environmental attitude structures need to be made salient. Further, findings suggest that

creating a contrast effect, within the context of salient ecological attitudes will enhance the

enabling effects of the salient attitudes.

In terms of the theoretical underpinnings of attitude structure, primes activate specific sets

of pre-existing attitudes, which have been developed through experience with the attitude

objects, and are able to produce consistent evaluations of that object and associated objects,

in this case, the natural environmental and related concepts. Context effects created by

temporary stimuli, increase the salience of more distant and peripheral parts of the activated

attitude network, altering the accessibility of available associations. If the accessible

associations are relevant to the stimuli being judged (e.g. the natural environment), then

subsequent evaluations will be assimilated. If however, the accessible information is judged

to be inappropriate for use in evaluating the stimulus, it will be used as a comparison tool,

which can result in a (sometimes desirable) contrast effect. In this way, examining the content

of ecological and environmental attitudes across individuals has resulted in evidence to

support the hypothesis that two separate sets of environmentally relevant attitudes exist. The

consistency found between the associations produced in the two NEP conditions and the two

EAS conditions is congruent with Kerlinger’s (1984) model of personal ideology. That is, the

core sets of associations (corresponding to Kerlinger’s critical referents) support the idea that

environmental attitudes are based on a separate set of referents than ecological attitudes.

While a degree of overlap was evident between the NEP and EAS conditions, the differences


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in associations offer insight into the underlying foundations of each set of attitudes. These

foundations are thought to function as an ideology in that they provide consistency and

organisation for individual attitudes. The higher order structure provides the stable

framework required to support a set of core associations and the network that allows access to

other available associations through spreading activation.

The influence of contextual effects upon the associations that are elicited is not

merely a phenomenon which has interest only to those concerned with measurement and

matters of the structure of social attitudes and environmental cognition. There are

implications for the methodology of opinion surveys examining environmental attitudes and

marketing campaigns addressing consumer behavior and policy support. The ways in which

questions are worded in opinion surveys, and the order in which they are placed, have been

shown to have strong effects upon the opinions that are consequently stated by respondents

(Schwartz & Strack, 1991; Krosnick and Fabrigar, 2013) which can in turn has effects upon

the interpretation of the results by the pollsters and the government institutions which use the

results in decision making pertinent to environmental policy.

The accessibility of cognitive structures may also play a role in the degree to which

attitudes may be influenced through persuasion and education. Results from this study

demonstrate that priming of attitudes may produce one set of outcomes while the order of

presentation may have quite strong contrast effects upon the conscious and accessible

cognition of the individual, which in turn, has relevance to the ways in which campaigns may

be designed to produce practical outcomes of yielding or resistance to information about

climate change. These effects have been well exemplified by the work of McGuire (1999) on

the structure and function of thought systems and their role. However, while order and

presentation effects can be manipulated by the media and marketers, in real-world situations

attention must also be taken into account. More research is needed to understand the factors


23

and variance in attention to climate change and engagement in policy support as we can only

utilize the positive effects of attitude priming if the public is ‘attentive’ to the prime.


24

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