When and how pro-environmental attitudes turn into behavior: The role of costs, benefits, and self-control

Wyss, Annika M.; Knoch, Daria; Berger, Sebastian (2022). When and how pro-environmental attitudes turn into behavior: The role of costs, benefits, and self-control. Journal of environmental psychology, 79, p. 101748. Elsevier 10.1016/j.jenvp.2021.101748

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Despite a strong consensus about humanity's responsibility for climate change, many people fail to behave in line with their pro-environmental attitudes and the question of how to overcome this environmental attitude-behavior gap remains a puzzle. To address this lacuna, the present research provides further insights into motivational, dispositional, and structural factors underlying pro-environmental behavior. Based on a decision-task with actual environmental consequences (n = 1536), we show that pro-environmental attitudes are more predictive of environmental behavior when personal costs are low and environmental benefits are high. Importantly, self-control helps people to act in line with their attitudes, suggesting that self-control is a crucial trait for protecting people's long-term pro-environmental goals. We propose that mitigation strategies should take into account the motivational, dispositional and structural complexity associated with pro-environmental decisions.

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