99
• Specificity or generality is the way in which an attitude towards an object or a
whole category of objects is oriented. For example, we can develop a negative
attitude towards a particular brand of soft drinks or all brands of soft drinks.
Milfont and Duckitt (2010) define environmental attitudes (EA) as a psychological tendency expressed by evaluating the natural environment with some degree of
favour or disfavour. There are hundreds of EA measures available based on different
conceptual and theoretical frameworks. The most popular ones are addressed later
in this chapter.
A report on the development of civic attitudes across Europe found that there are
two well-definable factors influencing students’ civic outcomes: an open classroom
climate and students’ active classroom participation in democratic activities. Along
with a personal and social background, civic and citizenship knowledge has influence on civic attitudes (Blaskó et al. 2018: 11–15).
7.3 Environmental Values
Research on the way people relate to the environment uses different concepts: ‘value
orientations’, ‘human–nature relationships’ and ‘visions of nature’ are the words
most often encountered in the literature focusing on the relation between humans
and the environment. These concepts inform and influence more specific attitudes
towards nature and/or the environment. Nevertheless, the concepts used in attitudinal research are not to be used synonymously with each other as they address different perspectives on the ways people relate to the environment. Some of these
concepts are derived from theory, while others have an empirical basis or have been
refined by large-scale surveys (Bauer 2016).
Civic attitudes are mainly discussed in the context of civic knowledge, attitudes
towards democracy and equality, sense of identity, interest in public and political
issues and in and out of school engagement. The International Civic and Citizenship
Education Study collected data and gave an in-depth analysis of the factors influencing civic attitudes (see, e.g. Blaskó et al. 2018).
7.3.1 Values
Values can be defined as the criteria people use to justify actions and to evaluate
people and events (Schwartz 2006). Values are more general than attitudes and are
known to influence attitudes and actions in different domains. The theory of basic
human values postulates that in all societies a distinction can be drawn between 10
basic values (power, achievement, hedonism, stimulation, self-direction, universalism, benevolence, tradition, conformity and security; Schwartz 1992). Within the
basic human value of ‘universalism’, Schwartz and Boehnke (2004) identified the
7 Attitudes and Environmental Citizenship
• Specificity or generality is the way in which an attitude towards an object or a
whole category of objects is oriented. For example, we can develop a negative
attitude towards a particular brand of soft drinks or all brands of soft drinks.
Milfont and Duckitt (2010) define environmental attitudes (EA) as a psychological tendency expressed by evaluating the natural environment with some degree of
favour or disfavour. There are hundreds of EA measures available based on different
conceptual and theoretical frameworks. The most popular ones are addressed later
in this chapter.
A report on the development of civic attitudes across Europe found that there are
two well-definable factors influencing students’ civic outcomes: an open classroom
climate and students’ active classroom participation in democratic activities. Along
with a personal and social background, civic and citizenship knowledge has influence on civic attitudes (Blaskó et al. 2018: 11–15).
7.3 Environmental Values
Research on the way people relate to the environment uses different concepts: ‘value
orientations’, ‘human–nature relationships’ and ‘visions of nature’ are the words
most often encountered in the literature focusing on the relation between humans
and the environment. These concepts inform and influence more specific attitudes
towards nature and/or the environment. Nevertheless, the concepts used in attitudinal research are not to be used synonymously with each other as they address different perspectives on the ways people relate to the environment. Some of these
concepts are derived from theory, while others have an empirical basis or have been
refined by large-scale surveys (Bauer 2016).
Civic attitudes are mainly discussed in the context of civic knowledge, attitudes
towards democracy and equality, sense of identity, interest in public and political
issues and in and out of school engagement. The International Civic and Citizenship
Education Study collected data and gave an in-depth analysis of the factors influencing civic attitudes (see, e.g. Blaskó et al. 2018).
7.3.1 Values
Values can be defined as the criteria people use to justify actions and to evaluate
people and events (Schwartz 2006). Values are more general than attitudes and are
known to influence attitudes and actions in different domains. The theory of basic
human values postulates that in all societies a distinction can be drawn between 10
basic values (power, achievement, hedonism, stimulation, self-direction, universalism, benevolence, tradition, conformity and security; Schwartz 1992). Within the
basic human value of ‘universalism’, Schwartz and Boehnke (2004) identified the
7 Attitudes and Environmental Citizenship