Values, Beliefs, and Attitudes About the Environment
This paper summarizes Chapter 4 of Bechtel's (1997) Environment and Behavior: An Introduction, covering key theories and models related to environmental values, beliefs, and attitudes. Topics include Toffler's three stages of beliefs, the Fishbein-Ajzen attitude-behavior model, Gray's comprehensive environmental attitude model, McKechnie's Environmental Response Inventory, the NIMBY phenomenon, Hardin's tragedy of the commons and Platt's concept of social traps, the laws of ecological science, the Human Exceptionist Paradigm versus the New Environmental Paradigm, voluntary simplicity, and the nature of belief systems. The summary concludes that values, attitudes, and beliefs are interrelated frameworks through which people organize their understanding of and responses to the environment.
- Overview of Beliefs and Stages: Toffler's three stages of belief types
- Attitudes and Environmental Models: Fishbein-Ajzen and Gray's environmental attitude models
- The Environmental Response Inventory: McKechnie's classification of environmental dispositions
- NIMBY and Environmental Ethics: NIMBY phenomenon and social trap theory
- Laws of Ecological Science and HEP-NEP: Ecological laws and human-environment paradigms
- Voluntary Simplicity and Belief Systems: Simplifying life to support environmental ethics
- Conclusions: Beliefs and attitudes as environmental organizing frameworks
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What makes this paper effective
- Efficiently synthesizes a dense theoretical chapter by organizing concepts into clearly labeled, discrete sections that mirror the source material's structure.
- Consistently attributes ideas to named scholars and dates, demonstrating proper academic sourcing even in summary format.
- Maintains a neutral, informative tone throughout, avoiding personal opinion while accurately conveying complex theoretical content.
Key academic technique demonstrated
This paper demonstrates effective academic summarization: it distills multi-layered theoretical content — spanning sociological, psychological, and ecological frameworks — into concise bullet-style entries without losing the conceptual distinctions between models. The use of direct quotations from Bechtel (1997) is well-managed, deployed to preserve precise scholarly language where paraphrase might introduce ambiguity.
Structure breakdown
The summary follows the chapter's own internal organization, moving from broad belief typologies (Toffler) through attitude-behavior models (Fishbein-Ajzen, Gray) to specific instruments (Environmental Response Inventory), then addressing ethical dilemmas (NIMBY, tragedy of the commons, social traps), ecological laws, and paradigms (HEP-NEP). It closes with voluntary simplicity and belief systems before a brief integrating conclusion. This mirrors the deductive structure of the source chapter.
Overview of Beliefs and Stages
According to Toffler (1980), as discussed in Bechtel (1997), there are three types of beliefs: preindustrial, industrial, and postindustrial. Some people become fixed in one stage and are unable to adjust to the next. These stages reflect broader shifts in how societies relate to and conceptualize the natural world, forming the foundation for understanding more specific environmental psychology frameworks.
Attitudes and Environmental Models
There is a strong correlation between attitude and behavior, and the Fishbein-Ajzen model was the first to demonstrate this relationship (Bechtel, 1997). A person's attitude toward a specific behavior strongly predicts whether that behavior will occur.
Regarding attitudes toward the environment specifically, Gray (1985) developed what is considered the most comprehensive model for examining environmental attitudes (Bechtel, 1997). The elements of Gray's model are: general environmental concern, primitive beliefs, costs and benefits, and locus of responsibility and control (Bechtel, 1997).
The Environmental Response Inventory
Created by McKechnie (1974), the Environmental Response Inventory classifies personal dispositions toward the environment (Bechtel, 1997). Its classifications include pastoralism, urbanism, environmental adaptation, environmental trust, antiquarian, need for privacy, mechanical orientation, and communality (Bechtel, 1997).
References
Bechtel, R. (1997). Environment & Behavior: An Introduction. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, Inc.
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