A telephone survey of ninety-six randomly selected adults of a Southern California community asked about their participation in ecologically responsible behaviors. Fifteen different behaviors were analyzed in terms of: the extent of individual participation in each; the extent to which behaviors within conceptual categories were related; the extent to which all of the behaviors were related; and the extent to which participation in each was related to attitudes about energy conservation. The extent of participation in most of the behaviors was low; only recycling and consuming behaviors were significantly correlated within their respective categories; there was no single factor underlying all of the behaviors; and the attitude-behavior relationship was significant for only six of the behaviors. Implications for further research and conservation efforts are discussed. The Arab oil boycott of 1973-74 and the cutoff of Iranian oil in 1979 have called urgent attention to the uncertainty of the world's oil supply [1 ] , and drastic increases in the price of oil, natural gas, and electricity have emphasized the need for energy conservation, which is in essence a new and largely untapped source of energy [2]. As a result, it is important to determine what is being done in a variety of communities in the way of energy conservation. To date, social scientists have focused largely on the attitudinal aspects of energy conservation, with relatively little emphasis on the diversity of the behavioral aspects. Several scientists point out that maladaptive human behavior is at the root of the current energy and ecological crises, and an understanding of such behavior would be invaluable for both research and application [2-4]. Very little research has been done on the large variety of energy-efficient and ecologically responsible behaviors (the term "ecologically responsible behavior" was coined by Lipsey in 1977 and refers to actions which retard the degradation of the environment, including those which slow the depletion of
[1]
Russell H. Weigel.
Ideological and Demographic Correlates of Proecology Behavior
,
1977
.
[2]
Thomas C. Kinnear,et al.
Ecologically Concerned Consumers: Who are They?
,
1974
.
[3]
A. W. Wicker.
Attitudes Versus Actions: The Relationship of Verbal and Overt Behavioral Responses to Attitude Objects.
,
1969
.
[4]
L. S. Newman,et al.
Increasing attitude-behavior correspondence by broadening the scope of the behavioral measure.
,
1976
.
[5]
L. Bickman.
Environmental attitudes and actions.
,
1972,
The Journal of social psychology.
[6]
R. J. Hill,et al.
Attitude measurement and prediction of behavior: an evaluation of conditions and measurement techniques.
,
1967,
Sociometry.
[7]
A. Eagly,et al.
Attitudes and opinions.
,
1978,
Annual review of psychology.
[8]
Jack Arbuthnot,et al.
The Roles of Attitudinal and Personality Variables in the Prediction of Environmental Behavior and Knowledge
,
1977
.
[9]
William H. Bruvold,et al.
Consistency among Attitudes, Beliefs, and Behavior
,
1972
.
[10]
M. P. Maloney,et al.
A revised scale for the measurement of ecological attitudes and knowledge.
,
1975
.