Unearthing the “green” personality: Core traits predict environmentally friendly behavior

Abstract

Pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors show substantial individual differences, and exploringtheir predictors can help reveal the origins of pro-environmental behavior. Basic personality traits may provide a partial explanation, but it is unclear which personality traits are reliably associated with pro-environmental behaviors. The current paper uses a specific type of environmental behavior, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, to clarify which personality correlates are most robustly associated with behavior, and to test mediation of those effects through attitudes. A large (N = 345) sample of United States adults representative in age, gender, and ethnicity completed the 100-item HEXACO personality inventory, a novel self-report measure of behaviors that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and scales of environmental and political attitudes. Accounting for demographics, emissions-reducing behaviors were most strongly predicted by Openness, Conscientiousness, and Extraversion, and these effects of personality were mediated by attitudes towards the natural environment. These observations broaden the understanding of the etiology of environmental attitudes and behavior.Brick, C., & Lewis, G. J. (2016). Unearthing the “green” personality: Core traits predict environmentally friendly behavior. Environment and Behavior, 48(5), 635-658. doi.org/10.1177/0013916514554695Post-print PDF below

Cognitive Flexibility and Pro–Environmental Behaviour: A Multimethod Approach

“…As a side note, our analyses revealed some exploratory findings regarding broader personality correlates of pro‐environmental behaviour. Along the lines of previous research (Brick & Lewis, ; Busic‐Sontic et al, ; Hilbig et al, ; Lee et al, ; Markowitz et al, ; Ojedokun, ; Terrier et al, ), openness to experience was found to be the Big Five trait most closely linked to self‐reported pro‐environmental behaviour in our study. Our data further suggest, for the first time, that this relationship also extends to an objective measure of actual pro‐environmental behaviour (i.e.…”

“…Along the lines of cognitive flexibility, pro‐environmental behaviour has been found to relate to individual differences in openness to experience in multiple studies (Brick & Lewis, ; Busic‐Sontic, Czap, & Fuerst, ; Hilbig, Zettler, Moshagen, & Heydasch, ; Lee, Ashton, Choi, & Zachariassen, ; Markowitz, Goldberg, Ashton, & Lee, ; Ojedokun, ; Terrier, Kim, & Fernandez, ). With correlations ranging between r = .23 and r = .43, openness appears to be the Big Five factor most closely related to pro‐environmental behaviour.…”

“…With correlations ranging between r = .23 and r = .43, openness appears to be the Big Five factor most closely related to pro‐environmental behaviour. This relationship has been attributed to multiple characteristics of open individuals including their tendency to engage in abstract thought (required to grasp the long‐term consequences of pro‐environmental behaviour; Brick & Lewis, ) and their willingness to try novel and unconventional practices (required to adopt sustainable lifestyles; Markowitz et al, ; Poškus, ). Of note, all of the studies cited previously relied on self‐report measures to assess individuals' domain‐general propensity to engage in pro‐environmental behaviour.…”

Global consciousness and pillars of sustainable development

“…The findings also acknowledged another limitation of a perception survey instrument -complexity of data interpretations. There are complex factors, such as students' personality types (Brick and Lewis, 2016); situational factors (Corraliza and Berenguer, 2000); and emotional and attitude factors (Pooley and O'Connor, 2000), that might affect students' perceptions of their sustainability-related behavior change. The findings also supported our initial assumption that students might learn sustainability as part of their exam preparation, disconnected from real life experiences.…”

The Personality Profiles of Early Adopters of Energy-Efficient Technology

“…Markowitz et al (2012) showed a positive impact of Openness to Experience on environmental habits, such as using public transportation, carpooling and composting food scraps. Similarly, Brick & Lewis (2016) demonstrated that Openness to Experience, Conscientiousness and Extraversion are positively related to environmental attitudes, which in turn have an impact on pro-environmental activities (e.g. recycling, conserving water, using public transportation).…”