Compensation and consistency effects in proenvironmental behaviour: The moderating role of majority and minority support for proenvironmental values

Abstract

Western citizens perceive human behaviour as a significant cause of climate change and increasingly adopt proenvironmental behaviours. However, such positively connoted behaviours can either increase (consistency) or decrease (compensation) the probability that one acts in a similar way in the future. Drawing from social influence and social identity literatures, we propose that numerical support for proenvironmental values (majority vs. minority) moderates the effect of past behaviour on intention to adopt proenvironmental behaviour. Across three studies ( N = 500), past behaviour, either measured (Study 1) or manipulated (Studies 2 and 3) interacted with numerical support, manipulated (Studies 1 and 2) or measured (Study 3), to predict proenvironmental intention and behaviour. Results showed that majority support results in balancing dynamics, whereas minority support results in a consistency effect. These findings highlight the importance of the normative context for proenvironmental behaviour adoption and offer leads for developing behaviour change strategies.

Climate change and intergroup relations: Psychological insights, synergies, and future prospects

“…Lalot, Falomir-Pichastor, and Quiamzade (2018) report the results of three studies exploring the interaction between past environmental behavior and descriptive norms (perceived numerical support for proenvironmental values) on proenvironmental behavioral intentions. Prior research suggests that knowledge of one’s past proenvironmental actions can lead to inconsistent effects, in some cases increasing and other cases paradoxically decreasing the probability that one behaves similarly in the future.…”

Understanding permaculturist motivations among residents of the “PermaKulturRaum” in Goettingen, Germany: a qualitative analysis

“…Furthermore, being a member of a supportive social minority can enhance the efforts to behave pro-environmentally. If the minority group welcomes past behavior patterns, the person might be motivated to continue these patterns, whereas the person may be willing to change past behavior patterns, if they are not supported by the minority group (Lalot et al 2018(Lalot et al , 2019. Although, the results were not totally convincing because of different outcomes in the studies, they can be helpful to understand our own results.…”

Speaking-out or Remaining Silent? The Importance of Interplay Between Personal Attitudes and Perceived Group Norms in Outspokenness

“…Indeed, such unexpected counter conformity effect disappears once this minority group of people holding very negative attitudes is removed from the total sample. Such finding, although exploratory, provides evidence for the strong influence of robust and vocal minorities in determination of normative climate in a way that a minority attitude is erroneously perceived to be the majority one (Authors, 2015;Lalot et al, 2018;Moscovici, 1985).…”