Accuracy of self-reports: Validating the general ecological behavior scale

Self-reports are:often discredited as poor indicators of actual behavior. The present study aims at comparing subjective and observable, objective indicators of ecological behavior. Fourteen exemplary behaviors of 40 either subjectively particularly ecologically or unecologically behaving participants were checked by two interviewers. AU 14 behaviors derive from the most recent version of the General Ecological Behavior scale(originally developed by Kaiser, 1998). Moreover, they relate to objective: data such as possession of a fuel-efficient car or membership m an environmental organization. Evidenly, self-reports represent-fairly stable (r(tt) = .83: r(tt) = .96) and valid (kappa = .78; M(r) = .81)indicators of ecological behavior, particularly when self-reported behaviors represent dichotomized practices - I do or I don't - or circumstances - I possess or I do not possess. Key words: ecological behavior, self-report,test validity, measurement.