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"Green" Doesn't Always Make Good Impressions: Evaluations of Different Types of Environmentalists

In the present research, I examined individuals' evaluative responses toward traditional representations of environmentalists (e.g., tree-huggers and radical activists) as well as less typical but more mainstream environmentalists. Undergraduate students read about one of three types of environmentalists (i.e., radical activist, tree-hugger, or mainstream environmentalist). Participants then rated the extent to which they liked the individual they read about. Results revealed that participants evaluated the tree-hugger and radical activist less favourably than a typical student. In contrast, participants responded as favourably toward the mainstream environmentalist as they did toward a typical student. These findings indicate that individuals have distinct impressions of different types of environmentalists: Whereas mainstream environmentalists may receive favourable evaluations from individuals, stereotypical environmentalists may elicit negative reactions and even alienate members of the public.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:TORONTO/oai:tspace.library.utoronto.ca:1807/33710
Date03 December 2012
CreatorsBashir, Nadia Yasmine
ContributorsLockwood, Penelope, Chasteen, Alison L.
Source SetsUniversity of Toronto
Languageen_ca
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis

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