Offsetting behavioral costs with personal attitude: Identifying the psychological essence of an environmental attitude measure
New publication!
Kaiser, F. G. & Lange, F. (2021). Offsetting behavioral costs with personal attitude: Identifying the psychological essence of an environmental attitude measure. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 75, 101619.
Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2021.101619
Abstract:
Identifying the essence of a latent psychological attribute captured by a measurement instrument requires more than a glance at the measure's indicators or confidence in an established measurement practice. It demands an exploration of the nomological network in which an attribute (e.g., environmental attitude) is theoretically anticipated to operate. With our study, we aimed to identify the General Ecological Behavior (GEB) scale as a Campbell-paradigm-based measure of environmental attitude. In our empirical test (N = 183), we juxtaposed the two estimated parameters—behavioral costs and what is believed to represent environmental attitude—with real costs. To do so, costs were manipulated as objective waiting times that differentiated between otherwise identical pro-environmental behaviors. Our findings corroborate the idea that the GEB's cost estimates reflect actual behavioral costs. Furthermore, progressively increasing costs were the expected progressive impediment of behavior that, according to Campbell's paradigm, environmental attitude is presumed to offset.
Keywords: Attitude measurement; Environmental attitudes; Attitude-behavior consistency; Conservation (ecological behavior); Campbell paradigm