Leveraging emotion-behavior pathways to support environmental behavior change

Abstract

Many global environmental threats are driven by human behavior and require behavioral solutions. Researchers in the environmental field have recently explored the behavioral sciences as core to changing behavior for conservation, yet leveraging human emotions remains an underused tool for behavior change compared to others like social norms. Humans experience a range of emotions that each cause distinct patterns of behavior depending on unique contexts that evolved over time; this presents an opportunity to leverage emotions to support behavior-change goals. The existing literature and models of behavior change offer minimal guidance about which specific emotions to use in which contexts and how those emotions might lead to certain behaviors. In the environmental field specifically, there have been mixed recommendations on using emotions, resulting from an incomplete understanding of the causal relationship between emotions, contexts, and environmental behaviors. We propose that adopting a functionalist approach, which describes emotions as functional states designed to produce outcomes in specific contexts, will help to unlock emotions as a tool for conservation. To demonstrate this approach, we identified fear, hope, the prospect of shame, pride, anger, and interest as particularly relevant for environmental behavior change. Based on an understanding of each emotion's function, we developed an emotion-behavior pathway that described the expected outcome of using an emotion in a particular context. Applying these emotional-behavior pathways can allow both researchers and practitioners to advance the science of shifting environmental behavior through emotion.

The Anthropocene condition: evolving through social–ecological transformations

“…In increasingly globalized societies, the aspirational narratives of human development, including human rights and fair access to health, education and decent standards of living, have shaped decades of improvement in human wellbeing for billions of people [105,137]. Building on these narratives to include human rights to a 'clean and healthy environment' [138], together with narratives calling for rights of nature, multi-species justice and other hopeful aspirational narratives connecting human wellbeing with the wellbeing of the rest of nature are increasingly essential to shape a better planetary future [109,124,127,128,136,[139][140][141][142][143][144][145][146][147][148]. This is even more critical on a planet where people are increasingly connected with each other electronically, while living lives more physically distanced from daily contact with each other and the rest of life on Earth [106,149].…”

“…However, crisis narratives based on abstract and differentially experienced concerns, like the exceedance of a specific global temperature, tipping point or other planetary indicator, especially when attached to actions one cannot personally enact, impossible time limits (e.g. 'only 12 years to act') and government failures to act, can cause more anxiety than action [22,[124][125][126][127][128][129]. Even worse, crisis narratives, when developed and deployed primarily by elites, wellmeaning or otherwise, can drive divisions, disempowerment and conflict [125,[130][131][132].…”

All Hearts and Minds on Deck: Hope Motivates Climate Action by Linking the Present and the Future

“…Several reviews of the role of emotions in climate action call for research to establish causal connections between emotions, contexts, and different environmental actions. Brosch (2021) and Williamson and Thulin (2022) point out that findings suggesting that people's affective responses to climate change are consistently among the strongest predictors of risk perceptions, personal protective behaviors, policy support, and technology acceptance, are all based on correlational data. The exploratory results presented above and discussed further in Constantino and Weber (2023) are suggestive but also correlational.…”

Hope for the environment: Influence of goal and temporal focus of emotions on behavior

“…There is ample research showing that emotions are strongly linked to pro‐environmental behaviors, as shown by Brosch (2021) and Schneider et al (2021). Emotions are also often used as triggers to promote environmental behaviors (see Brosch, 2021; Williamson & Thulin, 2022). For a very long time, negative emotions, such as fear and guilt, have been considered a panacea in the environmental domain.…”

“…often used as triggers to promote environmental behaviors (see Brosch, 2021;Williamson & Thulin, 2022). For a very long time, negative emotions, such as fear and guilt, have been considered a panacea in the environmental domain.…”