THE PREDICTION OF ECOLOGICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL BELIEF SYSTEMS: THE DIFFERENTIAL CONTRIBUTIONS OF SOCIAL CONSERVATISM AND BELIEFS ABOUT MONEY

Abstract

The environment and the economy are two 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 beliefs 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 four measures was conducted with 399 university students. 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. Results provide support for the hypothesis that ecological beliefs and environmental attitudes exist as separable cognitive structures.