Journal
JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY
Volume 79, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
ACADEMIC PRESS LTD- ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvp.2021.101748
Keywords
Pro-environmental behavior; Self-control; Pro-environmental attitudes; Attitude-behavior gap
Funding
- Swiss Federal Office of Energy [SI/502093-01]
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The study found that pro-environmental attitudes are more predictive of pro-environmental behavior when personal costs are low or environmental benefits are high, and self-control is crucial for aligning actions with attitudes.
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 = 1,536), we show that pro-environmental attitudes are more predictive of pro-environmental behavior when personal costs are low or 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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