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

Preview

Text 1-s2.0-S0272494421002012-main.pdf - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons: Attribution (CC-BY). Download (1MB) | Preview

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.

Interest & Impact

Downloads

80 since deposited on 26 Jan 2022
59 in the past 12 months

Citations

5 Citations in Web of Science ®
6 Citations in Scopus

Search

in Google Scholar™

Services

Actions (login required)

Edit item

Actions (login required)

Edit item