Energy Conservation and Attitudes Toward Technology

Abstract

An exploratory survey of a small suburban community near Los Angeles investigated the attitudes and values underlying acceptance of technological applications, examined the relationship of general attitudes toward technology to conservation attitudes and behavior during the energy crisis of 1973–1974, and contrasted college students with the surrounding community in their regard for technology and energy conservation. Two distinct dimensions of attitudes toward technology utility and affect–were defined and found to relate to belief in the reality of the energy crisis and preferred solutions, but not to reported conservation behavior. Moreover, in contrast to popular images, no strong antitechnology sentiment was found among the college sample