Abstract

This study explores the nature of environmental responsiveness by identifying the causal contributions individuals make to their personal environmental beliefs and responses which act as determinants of the nature of their environmental responsiveness. The research context of this study is a large east coast university. Data was gathered from nine participants enrolled in a master's level elementary teaching method's course using: reflective journals, electronic mail communications, tape recorded interviews, and course generated artifacts. The data analysis procedures are taken from Strauss and Corbin's procedures for generating a grounded theory. ;The themes emerging from this study focus around the impact of intertwining self-concept conditions on the nature of our environmental responsiveness. These self-concepts conditions include: perceived efforts and abilities, perceptions of control, and perceived environmental values. As the participants define their environmental beliefs and responses as pro or anti environmental, or as superficial or satisfactory; their ability and effort to address environmental issues, their perceived control over changing that which they attributed to the causes of environmental concerns, and their environmental values are formulated to match their personal self-concepts. As the participants feel helpless to change or control the current state of the environment, they attribute this helplessness, in part, to their limited knowledge and thus reduce environmental goals and efforts. When they believe they can have an impact on the state of the environment; they are more optimistic about their own abilities and actions and expanded their goals and efforts. However, strong environmental values, rather than environmental knowledge or perceptions of control, at times promote the formulation of environmental beliefs and responses. The development of the participants' different self conceptions are strongly influenced by their affective childhood and adult experiences in the environment, and their interpretations of the human-environment relationship. ;The conclusion asserted from this study is that the nature of environmental responsiveness can only be understood as it is represented in each person's unique thought processes which reflect interactive and often times competing multifaceted influences and intertwining self-concept conditions