ABSTRACT
Values and value systems play a large role in determining what, and even how, individuals think about environmental policy issues, including climate change. Chapter 4 discusses the hierarchical nature of value systems, which includes core values that inform environmental values, and both core and environmental values that inform specific policy attitudes. Core values can be understood in terms of political ideology and cultural theory, and environmental values can be measured through the New Ecological Paradigm scale. Core and environmental values influence cognition, or how individuals think about issues such as climate change. Using original survey data, this chapter demonstrates the influence of cultural theory values of hierarchy, egalitarianism, individualism, and fatalism on environmental values as measured by the New Ecological Paradigm scale. In addition, this chapter examines cultural cognition and environmental cognition, and their influence on views about climate change.
