Exploring inner and outer worlds: A quantitative study of worldviews, environmental attitudes, and sustainable lifestyles

This study generates insight into how environmental attitudes and sustainable lifestyles relate to worldviews. First, environmental attitudes are contextualized cultural-historically (using Charles Taylor's work) and psychologically (using self-determination theory, SDT). Then, a questionnaire exploring worldviews, environmental attitudes, and sustainable lifestyles was conducted (n= 1043) in the Netherlands. Component analyses resulted in five worldview-factors (Inner growth, Contemporary spirituality, Traditional God, Focus on money, Secular materialism) and three environmental attitudes (Connectedness with nature, Willingness to change, Instrumentalism). The results show that Inner growth and Contemporary spirituality relate to Connectedness with nature and Willingness to change (and more sustainable lifestyles), while Focus on money and Secular materialism relate to Instrumentalism (and less sustainable lifestyles). In line with STD, the results suggest that intrinsically oriented worldviews correlate positively with pro-environmental attitudes and lifestyles, while extrinsically oriented worldviews correlate negatively. In line with Taylor, the results indicate a more traditional, modern, and postmodern worldview in the Netherlands. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.