Final answer:
Five problematic attitudes affecting environmental perspectives are blaming others, feeling helpless, assuming invulnerability, having a short-term focus, and resisting change. It's important to adopt attitudes of personal responsibility, empowerment, vulnerability awareness, long-term thinking, and openness to change to positively impact the environment.
Step-by-step explanation:
In the context of environmental issues, social psychologists identify several attitudes that can negatively affect how people perceive and act upon these challenges:
- Blaming others: This attitude involves deflecting responsibility and attributing environmental problems to other groups or entities. The problem with this attitude is it prevents individuals from recognizing their own contributions to the issues. A better attitude would be personal responsibility, recognizing how one's own actions impact the environment.
- Helplessness: Feeling that individual actions can't make a difference leads to apathy and inaction. It's more productive to adopt an attitude of empowerment, believing in the collective impact of small, positive actions.
- Assuming invulnerability: Some people believe environmental problems won't affect them personally. Acknowledging vulnerability can motivate actions to protect oneself and future generations.
- Short-term focus: Prioritizing immediate convenience or profit over long-term environmental health. Embracing a long-term perspective can lead to more sustainable decisions.
- Resistance to change: Being comfortable with the status quo can prevent the adoption of more sustainable practices. Willingness to adapt and pursue innovation is crucial for environmental progress.
These attitudes are problematic because they hinder the progress towards addressing and solving environmental problems. Active engagement, personal responsibility, and long-term thinking, coupled with openness to change and collective action, are the attitudes that should ideally replace them.