The perceived relationship between population growth and current ecological problems using repertory grid technique

Population growth (PG) is one of the main drivers of environmental deterioration. Understanding lay perception of PG is important for mobilizing public opinion and support for environmental protection. A range of real-life current ecological problems, including PG, was presented to a sample of a hundred Israeli students without environmental education. We employed George Kelly's repertory grid technique along with principal component analysis to: (a) examine risk perceptions about PG in relation to various ecological problems and (b) identify the perceived risk attributes that influence risk perception of PG. We found that: (a) PG severity was perceived as extremely modest, and that very few respondents viewed it as a catalyst of all other ecological problems that warranted prevention. (b) The most significant predictors of risk evaluation were the perceived certainty of the risk and the level of emotional response it evoked. PG emerges as an idiosyncratic type of risk that is as psychologically distant as possible from most other ecological problems. This reflects a profound lack of understanding of the long-term effects of PG and the underlying causes behind many of today's ecological problems. The importance of raising awareness about demographic factors in environmental degradation is discussed.