Volume 56, Issue 3 p. 425-442

New Trends in Measuring Environmental Attitudes: Measuring Endorsement of the New Ecological Paradigm: A Revised NEP Scale

Riley E. Dunlap

Riley E. Dunlap

Washington State University,

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Kent D. Van Liere

Kent D. Van Liere

Primen,

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Angela G. Mertig

Angela G. Mertig

Michigan State University,

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Robert Emmet Jones

Robert Emmet Jones

University of Tennessee

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First published: 17 December 2002
Citations: 2,348

Abstract

Dunlap and Van Liere's New Environmental Paradigm (NEP) Scale, published in 1978, has become a widely used measure of proenvironmental orientation. This article develops a revised NEP Scale designed to improve upon the original one in several respects: (1) It taps a wider range of facets of an ecological worldview, (2) It offers a balanced set of pro- and anti-NEP items, and (3) It avoids outmoded terminology. The new scale, termed the New Ecological Paradigm Scale, consists of 15 items. Results of a 1990 Washington State survey suggest that the items can be treated as an internally consistent summated ratingscale and also indicate a modest growth in pro-NEP responses among Washington residents over the 14 years since the original study.