W7 Environmental psychology

Question 1

Environmental psychology

Answer 1

“The discipline that studies the interplay between individuals and the built and natural environment”

Question 2

Pro environmental behaviour (1)

Answer 2

Behaviour that consciously seeks to minimize the negative impact of one’s actions on the natural and built world’ (e.g. recycling walking, ect.)
=> Goal directed behavior ( people adopt with the explicit goal of doing something beneficial for the environment)

Question 3

Pro-environmental behaviour (2)

Answer 3

Behaviour that harms the environment as little as possible, or even benefits the environment’(not motivated by environmental goals)

Question 4

Carbon footpint

Answer 4

is the total amount of greenhouse gases (e.g., carbon dioxide and methane) that are generated by our actions. Expressed in terms of the carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e). The average carbon footprint for a person in the UK is 11.7 tonnes of CO2 equivalent (tCO2e) per year*.

Question 5

Self-report measures

Answer 5

Ask people whether they do (or do not) engage in such behaviour, how frequently, with what intensity. Can focus on a specific type of environmental behaviour (e.g., recycling, choice of transport) or measure a range of different pro-environmental behaviours.
Self-report measures of intentions/ willingness to engage in environmental behaviours. (e.g., intentions to conserve water in the home over the next week).

Question 6

Behavioral tasks

Answer 6

COST: asked how much money they will donate to an environmental charity.
EFFORT: asked to screen a long list of numbers and for every page of numbers they complete a donation is made to an environmental charity.
TIME: used a navigation system to choose between different travel routes. Routes either associated with long waiting times and large emission savings or with sort waiting times and small emission savings.

Question 7

Observations in lab settings

Answer 7

assessing whether participants turned off the laboratory lights before switching to another testing room. Asking participants to dispose of the materials they were given for a mock task and seeing if participants put the paper in a recycling bin vs normal rubbish bin and awarding participant a point for every material that was correctly disposed of.

Question 8

Observations in field setting

Answer 8

In a field setting: observing littering behaviour, the travel mode of morning commuters, the quantity of eco-friendly products bought in a supermarket.

Question 9

ethical appeal

Answer 9

“Our fair-trade teas allow us to ensure fair wages for tea producers in developing nations.”

Question 10

guilt appeal

Answer 10

“How can you enjoy a cup of tea knowing that people who produce it are not being treated fairly”

Question 11

experienced emotions

Answer 11

The extent to which engagement in a behaviour actually makes us feel good or bad.

Question 12

Anticipated emotions

Answer 12

expectation that engaging in a particular behavior makes us experience positive or negative emotions.

Question 13

Hedonic

Answer 13

feel pleasure = The view that emotions related to the environmental behaviour have their roots in the behaviour being a pleasurable or unpleasurable experience.

Question 14

Hedonic view

Answer 14

Some pro-environmental behaviours may be inherently pleasurable. = Research has suggested that organic food is perceived by some to be better tasting than non-organic food (Zanoli & Naspetti, 2002).

Question 15

Eudaimonic

Answer 15

feel purpose = The view that positive and negative emotions related to environmental behaviour have their roots in the behaviour being a moral and meaningful experience.

Question 16

Eudaimonic view

Answer 16

Pro-environmental behaviour is regarded as a type of moral behaviour because acting pro-environmental can benefit the quality of nature and the well-being of others.
Thus, acting pro-environmentally may feel meaningful to those engaging in it because they are contributing to the greater good

Question 17

warm glow

Answer 17

Participants were asked to complete a carbon footprint calculator to assess the impact of their behaviour on the environment.
Told that their carbon footprint was 49% lower or 49% higher than other students.
Those who were told that their behaviour was more pro-environmental then others perceived the temperature in the room to be hotter than those who were told that their behaviour was more harmful than others!