A Dispositional Approach to Hazard Perception: Preliminary Development of the Environmental Appraisal Inventory

Recently more emphasis has been placed on the importance of variables that mediate person-environment relations. This paper describes the Environmental Appraisal Inventory (EAI), which is designed to measure three dimensions of environmental appraisal: (a) threat to self; (b) threat to the environment posed by environmental hazards, and (c) perceived control over environmental hazards. Hazards ranging from proximate indoor threats (e.g., office fumes) to large-scale outdoor threats (e.g., earthquakes) are included. Internal consistency of the EAI is more than adequate. Convergent and discriminant validity is explored using McKechnie's (1974) Environmental Response Inventory and Rotter's (1966) Internal-External Locus of Control scale. Perceived control over the physical environment as measured by the EAI appears to be distinct from Rotter's measure. The EAI has good psychometric properties, represents a previously untapped aspect of person-environment relations, and should prove useful as a mediating variable in several areas of environmental psychology.