The Attitudinal Influence of Career Orientation in 1st-Year University Students: Environmental Attitudes as a Function of Degree Choice

Abstract

The authors examined the differences in environmental attitudes and ecological beliefs among 1st-year university students in different disciplines. The authors predicted that students studying disciplines traditionally associated with economic rationalism (i.e., commerce and business studies) and with social and political conservatism (i.e., law) would be less pro-environmental than students in disciplines conventionally considered liberal. The findings suggest that, although most university students hold positive attitudes toward the environment, different disciplines attract students of a particular attitudinal orientation.

Key Words:

• attitudes
• beliefs
• ecology
• environment
• students

Additional information

Notes on contributors

J. Michael Innes

Shari P. Hodgkinson works in the school of psychology, and J. Michael Innes is a professor of psychology at Murdoch University in Perth, Australia.