SOCIALPSYCHOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK FOR RESEARCH - AN ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERN

The present paper focuses on those critics that have suggested that the lack of a general theoretical frame may be one reason that the research on environmental attitudes is both conceptually eclectic and empirically not cumulative. A major exception to this has been the growing literature that attempts to use Norman Schwartz's norm-activation model of altruism to explain actions to ameliorate environmental problems. Based on the norm-activation theory, a social-psychologically motivated theoretical frame for the research on environmental concern will be developed. By integrating Serge Moscovici's concept of social representation, the proposed theoretical frame takes also more explicitly into account the social nature of environmental concern.