We need climate change mitigation and climate change mitigation needs the ‘We’: a state-of-the-art review of social identity effects motivating climate change action

Masson, Torsten; Fritsche, Immo

doi:10.1016/j.cobeha.2021.04.006

Cited by 72 publications

(48 citation statements)

References 70 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…With our results, we can show that presumably individual and interpersonal aspects play a greater role than previously assumed, where social influence and social norms can have not only a positive effect on sustainable behavior, but also a negative one. Thus, we confirm the research findings that community aspects [10,46], social norms, trust, environmental concern, and community identity [46], and especially individual attitudes such as individual environmental values, social contextual factors, and social norms [47], as well as identification, ingroup norms, group-based emotions, and collective efficacy beliefs [16], play a crucial role not only in the willingness to participate but also in the effects of participation, such as attitude and behavioral change.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

“…Less is known about how membership in community energy influences members' attitudes and behaviors. Basically, collective climate action is driven by social identification, ingroup norms, group-based emotions, and collective efficacy beliefs [16]. A first study could show that the awareness on energy issues is increased and wider participation in community initiatives is promoted [17].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Does Energy Community Membership Change Sustainable Attitudes and Behavioral Patterns? Empirical Evidence from Community Wind Energy in Germany

2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Community energy is seen as a helping hand for local, decentralized energy transition. Besides the main goal of supporting the community-friendly and socially acceptable development of renewable energies, the hope is also that a pro-environmental influence on sustainability behavior will be triggered when joining a community energy project. An analysis of a survey among 16 community energy projects in Germany, with 565 completed questionnaires, shows that a certain part of the members pays more attention to their energy behavior and develop a more positive attitude towards a decentralized energy transition and citizen participation after joining the community energy project. Therefore, we can empirically support that climate protection projects, such as community energy, influence pro-environmental attitudes and behavior, but this does not apply equally to all population groups. Members with higher income and stronger interest in returns are less likely to change their behavior. Based on these findings, we recommend the development of community energy policies that are more responsive to differences in social structure and address both privileged and underprivileged groups in a sophisticated way using specific offers and modes of involvement within the associations.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does Energy Community Membership Change Sustainable Attitudes and Behavioral Patterns? Empirical Evidence from Community Wind Energy in Germany

2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…However, our results imply that individual forms of action may be more effective than collective action in protecting individual mental health. From a global health perspective, however, collective action is vital to achieving the systemic change needed to limit global warming and should be encouraged (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2021; Masson & Fritsche, 2021). This highlights the importance of providing better psychological support to people engaged in collective climate action, both to protect individual mental health and to ensure sustained participation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nature connectedness in the climate change context: Implications for climate action and mental health.

Curll¹,

Stanley²,

Brown³

et al. 2022

Translational Issues in Psychological Science

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A sense of psychological connectedness with the natural world has important benefits for global health. In a time of environmental crisis, however, it may also be accompanied by mental health risks. We used national survey data collected after a severe Australian bushfire season (N = 3,875) to test a path model of the relationships between nature connectedness, worry about climate change, individual and collective climate action, and psychological distress (depression, anxiety, stress). We found that nature connectedness was positively associated with climate worry that, in turn, was positively associated with climate action and psychological distress. Whereas taking individual climate action was associated with reduced psychological distress, taking collective climate action had the opposite effect. Our findings provide new insights into potential processes underlying the association between nature connectedness and mental health in the climate change context and point to an urgent need to protect the well-being of people engaging in collective climate action.

show abstract

“…There might in fact be other emotions that play a role. Landmann and Rohmann (2020) pointed out collective guilt as a potential contributor ( Ferguson and Branscombe, 2014 ), and we agree that collective guilt can shape not just engagement in, but also the specific goals of collective action ( Masson and Fritsche, 2021 ). However, guilt is experienced mainly by the advantaged group ( Thomas et al, 2009b ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 73%

Moved by Social Justice: The Role of Kama Muta in Collective Action Toward Racial Equality

2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Participation in collective action is known to be driven by two appraisals of a social situation: Beliefs that the situation is unfair (injustice appraisal) and beliefs that a group can change the situation (collective efficacy appraisal). Anger has been repeatedly found to mediate the relationship between injustice appraisals and collective action. Recent work suggests that the emotion of being moved mediates the relationship between efficacy appraisals and collective action. Building on this prior work, the present research applies kama muta theory to further investigate the relationship between efficacy appraisals and collective action. Kama muta is a positive emotion that is evoked by a sudden intensification of communal sharing, and largely overlaps with the English concept being moved. We investigated its relationship with collective action in both advantaged and disadvantaged racial groups in the context of the Black Lives Matter Movement (BLM) in Spring of 2020. In one pilot study (N = 78) and one main study (N = 215), we confirmed that anger toward the system of racial inequalities mediated between injustice and collective action intentions, and that kama muta toward the movement mediated between collective efficacy and collective action intentions. Both mediations were found for both Black and White participants. We also observed additional unpredicted paths from anger to kama muta and from efficacy to anger. Together, this provides evidence for the pivotal role of emotions in collective action intentions, but also points out that appraisals need to be better understood.

show abstract

We need climate change mitigation and climate change mitigation needs the ‘We’: a state-of-the-art review of social identity effects motivating climate change action

Cited by 72 publications

References 70 publications

Does Energy Community Membership Change Sustainable Attitudes and Behavioral Patterns? Empirical Evidence from Community Wind Energy in Germany

Does Energy Community Membership Change Sustainable Attitudes and Behavioral Patterns? Empirical Evidence from Community Wind Energy in Germany

Nature connectedness in the climate change context: Implications for climate action and mental health.

Moved by Social Justice: The Role of Kama Muta in Collective Action Toward Racial Equality

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About