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The Land Ethic Realized: Some Social Psychological Explanations for Changing Environmental Attitudes 1
Author(s) -
Heberlein Thomas A.
Publication year - 1972
Publication title -
journal of social issues
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.618
H-Index - 122
eISSN - 1540-4560
pISSN - 0022-4537
DOI - 10.1111/j.1540-4560.1972.tb00047.x
Subject(s) - ascription , social psychology , psychology , interpersonal communication , moral responsibility , social value orientations , natural (archaeology) , social responsibility , environmental ethics , political science , public relations , economics , law , epistemology , microeconomics , philosophy , archaeology , history
Changing environmental attitudes from an economic to a moral orientation are discussed in terms of the activation of moral norms to guide and evaluate behavior. In controlled experimental situations, increasing levels of two variables (awareness of the negative interpersonal consequences and ascription of responsibility) increased the likelihood that moral norms influenced behavior. Changes in the social system are discussed which have increased both our awareness of, and the actual adverse consequences stemming from, a strict economic approach to the environment. Other modifications have made decision‐makers responsible for these consequences. These changes have fostered the current moral fervor concerning the natural environment.