Psychological Barriers to Energy Conservation Behavior: The Role of Worldviews and Climate Change Risk Perception

Abstract

We proposed and tested a conceptual model of how cultural cognition worldviews, climate change risk perception, and psychological barriers are related to reported energy conservation behavior frequency. Egalitarian and communitarian worldviews were correlated with heightened climate change risk perception, and egalitarian worldviews were correlated with weaker perceived barriers to reported energy conservation behavior. Heightened climate change risk perception was, in turn, associated with fewer perceived barriers to engagement in energy conservation behavior and more reported energy conservation behaviors. The relation between cultural worldviews and perceived barriers was partly mediated by climate change risk perception. Individuals with distinct worldviews perceived psychological barriers differently, and some barrier components were more strongly related to energy conservation behavior than others. Overall, climate change risk perception was the strongest predictor of perceived barriers and of energy conservation behavior frequency. Future efforts should focus on reducing the psychological barriers to energy conservation behavior identified in this study.

Overcoming the psychological barriers to energy conservation behaviour: The influence of objective and subjective environmental knowledge

“…Gifford and Chen () found that when consumer discredits the information regarding an environmental threat, they are less prone to climate change mitigation through a responsible food choice. Similarly, Lacroix and Gifford () reported an inverse relation between denial of the problem and energy conservation behaviour.…”

“…In many studies (e.g., Gruber & Schlegelmilch, ; Lorenzoni et al, ; McGregor, ; Stich & Wagner, ; Stoll‐Kleemann et al, ) mechanisms were proposed to decrease responsible consumption but only a few studies provided empirical evidence. Recently, Gifford and his colleagues (Gifford & Chen, ; Lacroix & Gifford, ) reported a direct relationship between barriers and climate change mitigation behaviours. However, the results of the current study show that psychological barriers impede responsible consumption (e.g., energy conservation) indirectly by hindering moral norms.…”

“…For this purpose, we examine roles of three distinct denial mechanisms including (a) denial of the problem, (b) denial of responsibility, and (c) denial of effectiveness. These three mechanisms were selected because they appeared as most prominent barriers for pro‐environmental behaviours in previous studies which are mostly exploratory in nature (Gruber & Schlegelmilch, ; Lacroix & Gifford, ; McGregor, ; Opotow and Weis, ; Stich & Wagner, ; Stoll‐Kleemann, O’Riordan, & Jaeger, ; Wells, Ponting, & Peattie, ). Secondly, we aim to discover the alleviating effects of actual and subjective environmental knowledge on the usage of denial mechanisms.…”

Pro-Environmental Behavior: The Role of Public Perception in Infrastructure and the Social Factors for Sustainable Development

“…Additionally, there has been a growing literature on policy implementation to deter and mitigate the negative externalities of climate change. More specifically, public perceptions of environmental issues and the public's level of concern have been found to be an important determinant of the effectiveness of climate change-related policies [6]. However, despite researchers' and policy makers' emphasis of the importance of climate change, the level of public concern is not equally heightened throughout the world [14].…”

“…Psychologists have addressed both the distance issue and the experience of risk as drivers of the public adaptation of pro-environment behavior [6][7][8].…”