Determinants of Subjective Attitudes Towards Ecological Problems in Students

The article deals with investigations of subjective attitudes towards ecological problems in students. It argues that this sphere is the nexus between “the world of people” and “the world of nature” being not identical to the latter. The empirical research is based on the original methodic that embraces four routinely outlined components of attitude: perceptual-affective, cognitive, practical and behavioral. The sample includes six categories of participants whose learning activity is related to the subject-matter — ecological problems — to different extent (from students of P. E. section of a professional college to university students specializing in ecological psychology). The results showed that general intensity of the attitudes is directly proportional with students' understanding of this sphere as their future professional activity. Though for the vast majority of youths the determinative component of subjective attitude towards ecological problems is the emotional one, for students dealing with ecological problems in the course of their learning activity such key attitude components are practical and cognitive ones.