Environmental psychology and sustainability: Comments on topics important for our future.

Abstract

This article emphasises the importance of psychology for the study and mitigation of sustainability issues. Over the past 20 years, a number of special issues on human behaviour and the environment have emerged in the literature, characterising the breadth of environmental problems and their consequences for our quality of life. The articles in this special section focus on psychology's role in interdisciplinary approaches to sustainability, with special attention given to the interdependency of environmental and human health. In this article, the authors summarise the main points of each of these contributions. In addition, they suggest tangible ways in which psychologists can meaningfully contribute to the environmental cause as individuals, practitioners, teachers, researchers, and administrators. Finally, the authors highlight future directions for research and practice in environmental psychology.

Towards a sustainable use of water at home: understanding how much, where and why?

“…New-more-sustainable habits might be well embraced in the beginning, but with time they tend to decline allowing the old routine to retake its place (Pelletier et al, 2008). It is an attitude-behaviour evolution through which user perception, lifestyle, technologies and infrastructure and social acceptance transform, and once people become comfortable and act almost automatically, it is harder to go back to previous behaviours.…”

“…Behavioural psychologists consider that the process of changing habits and routines into more sustainable (or unsustainable) ones happens in different stages (Pelletier, Lavergne, & Sharp, 2008): being aware of the problem, identifying the different possible solutions; choosing one and initiating a behaviour, and making the behaviour a long term habit, or in the worst case scenario, reverting to the original behaviour. Different approaches must be taken for each stage in order to succeed, as people will process the information in a more paused way and in the right time to make the best out of it.…”

“…Communicating intrinsic motives for environmental behaviours is one of the possible solutions or paths to take when trying to stimulate interest on sustainable/responsible actions/behaviour (O'Brien, 2008;Pelletier et al, 2008).…”

Feedback and Goal-Setting Interventions to Reduce Electricity use in the Real World

“…In a summary of journal special issues focusing on environmental problems, Pelletier, Lavergne and Sharp (2008) stressed the need for "assessment of real behaviors, not only intentions to act, and multiple assessments of behaviors over time will be especially important to determine the effectiveness of strategies designed to enhance PEBs" (p. 307). They concluded that a major challenge for environmental psychology is in putting a "wealth" of behavioral research into practice by designing and applying interventions, echoing the conclusions of Lehman & Geller (2004).…”

Question Order Effects in Sustainable Behavior Norm Measurement: Gender Differences

“…Sustainable behavior can be defined as socially responsible behavior directed at preserving the natural environment (Luchs & Mooradian, 2011). Sustainable behavior is an important and increasingly popular field of research (Ernst & Wenzel, 2014;Pelletier, Lavergne, & Sharp, 2008); therefore, methodological insights into how to improve the research instruments used in these types of studies can be very valuable. Various social norm measurements are used extensively in studies investigating sustainable behavior (Aguilar-Luzón, García-Martínez, Calvo-Salguero, & Salinas, 2012;de Groot & Steg, 2010;Interis & Haab, 2014;Şener & Hazer, 2008;Smith et al, 2012); however, the question order effects that may occur in these measurements remain largely unexplored.…”