Theory enhances impact. Reply to: ‘The case for impact-focused environmental psychology’

Valkengoed, Anne M. van; Steg, Linda; Perlaviciute, Goda; Schultz, P. Wesley; Brosch, Tobias; Gatersleben, Birgitta; Nordlund, Annika; Pahl, Sabine; Whitmarsh, Lorraine

doi:10.1016/j.jenvp.2021.101597

Cited by 24 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…A recent debate among environmental psychologists emphasized the need to focus intervention research on behaviors with high environmental impact. [86][87][88] To optimally select target emotions for affective interventions in the sustainability domain, research now should produce an evidence base to pinpoint the emotions that are most strongly linked with specific sustainable actions with high impact. For instance, fear triggers protective action tendencies with regard to a threat, while hope triggers action toward the obtention of an uncertain positive future.…”

Section: Going Forward: An Agenda For ''Green'' Emotion Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Leveraging emotion for sustainable action

Brosch

Steg

2021

One Earth

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Behavioral science approaches to promoting sustainable action have mainly focused on cognitive processes, whereas the role of emotions has received comparably little attention. However, emotions have a great but currently not fully exploited potential to contribute to a sustainable behavior change. In this perspective, we summarize recent research emphasizing the central and indispensable role of emotion in human thinking and judgment. We discuss how these insights can promote affective reactivity toward sustainability issues, help leverage the potential of emotion to motivate action, and improve emotional climate change communication and intervention strategies. We outline a research agenda that we see as crucial for obtaining a solid evidence base on how emotions can optimally promote sustainable behavior. This paper is meant to stimulate discussion and a coordinated research effort on how emotions may be better leveraged to promote large-scale sustainable action and to promote a stronger integration of emotional strategies into the toolbox of policy makers. ll

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Section: Going Forward: An Agenda For ''Green'' Emotion Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Leveraging emotion for sustainable action

Brosch

Steg

2021

One Earth

Self Cite

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“…(2) Climate change perception has predictive power for climate change adaptation and mitigation behaviours, but there are still many potential barriers that prevent behaviours from occurring. Although there have been many studies focussing on inaction in environmental psychology [52,53], different pro-environmental behaviours with high or low impact have different psychological mechanisms [54][55][56]. Upcoming studies may focus on the possible pathway of promoting climate change perception to actual behaviour.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A meta-analysis of the relationship between climate change experience and climate change perception

Xia

Zhou

et al. 2022

Environ. Res. Commun.

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Will climate change experience shape people’s climate change perception? To examine the evidences, we performed a pre-registered meta-analysis using data from 302 studies, covering 351,378 observations. Our results find that climate change experience only has a weak positive correlation with climate change awareness in general (r = 0.098, 95% CI 0.0614, 0.1348), and the effect sizes vary considerably across different climate events. General hazard and temperature anomalies experiences have significant correlations, but other events exhibit no or neglectable effects. The moderator analysis showed that self-reported studies result in higher correlations, whereas studies based on victims’ actual experiences report lower effect sizes. Our study suggests that people’s climate change experiences may not be effective in shaping their awareness of climate change, which is likely due to people’s attribution style and adaptability. The importance of proactive education thus is further emphasized to raise the awareness of climate change.

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“…Letter writing also has the benefit of being a form of pro-environmental behavior with the potential to have a significant environmental impact by changing policy. A recent debate in the environmental psychology literature [73][74][75] highlights the importance of investigating forms of pro-environmental behavior that have the potential for strong, beneficial impacts on the natural environment, rather than weaker behaviors that have little impact on environmental issues. Altogether, we believe this letter-writing approach has promise for future work not only in conservation research but in other policy-driven domains.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Making Pledges More Powerful: Effects on Pro-Environmental Beliefs and Conservation Behavior

et al. 2021

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We developed pledges that capitalized on several self-related properties (e.g., freedom of choice, actual-ought self-discrepancies, foot-in-door technique) and manipulated two experimental factors: pledge beneficiary and pledge audience. In two studies, participants received a recycling pledge based on a random assignment in a 2 (Beneficiaries: Nature vs. Self) × 2 (Audience: Ingroup vs. Outgroup) design. Afterwards, we assessed their pro-environmental beliefs and provided them with a behavioral opportunity to support conservation (i.e., recycling debriefing forms in Study 1, writing letters to congresspeople regarding an environmental policy in Study 2). In both studies, an interaction between beneficiaries and audience was observed, showing that a recycling pledge framed as benefitting nature and sponsored by a social ingroup led to more progressive environmental beliefs. In Study 2, individuals in the same condition (i.e., the nature-ingroup pledge) wrote more persuasive letters (longer and more sophisticated letters) supporting pro-environmental legislation. Implications for constructing effective pledges and for leveraging the self to promote pro-environmental action are discussed.

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Theory enhances impact. Reply to: ‘The case for impact-focused environmental psychology’

Cited by 24 publications

References 37 publications

Leveraging emotion for sustainable action

Leveraging emotion for sustainable action

A meta-analysis of the relationship between climate change experience and climate change perception

Making Pledges More Powerful: Effects on Pro-Environmental Beliefs and Conservation Behavior

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