Using Narratives to Think About Environmental Attitude and Behavior: An Exploratory Study

This article develops an exploratory technique for assessing environmental concern using narratives. The technique is compared to traditional techniques for assessing concern, such as measures related to the new environmental paradigm (NEP). A national survey asked respondents to rate outcomes of a story with environmental consequences as negative or positive. Responses tapped distinct dimensions of concern from the NEP. Narrative responses also added significantly to models predicting variance in environmental activism.