Environmental Psychology Flashcards
(23 cards)
what is environmental psychology
the discipline that studies the interplay between individuals and the built and natural environment
Pro environmental behaviour - two definitions
-behaviour that consciously seeks to minimize the negative impact of one’s actions on the natural and built world
-behaviour that harms the environment as little as possible, or even benefits the environment
goal directed behaviour
behaviours that people adopt with the explicit goal of doing something beneficial for the environment
carbon footprint
total amount of greenhouse gases that are generated by our actions
average carbon footprint for a person in the uk
11.7 tonnes of CO2 equivalent
self report measures
involve asking individuals to report whether they engage in specific environmental behaviours, how often and/or to what extent
focused measures
target specific behaviours
broad measures
assess a range of behaviours
self report measures of INTENTIONS
These assess a persons staged intention or willingness to engage in future environmental behaviours
Often used to predict actual behaviour and understand motivational factors driving behaviour
direct behavioural measures
field/lab
indirect measure
assessing outcomes that relate to environmental behaviours
do self report measures of pro environmental behaviour reflect actual behaviour
average correlation= r.46
slight tendency toward over-reporting behaviour
According to the Dual process theory, our decisions with respect to whether we engage in pro-environmental behaviour is driven by two, distinct processes
system 1
system 2
system 1`
a fast, automatic, largely unconscious and affect driven process
system 2
a slow, deliberate, reasoned-based and conscious process
knowledge deficit assumption
people lack knowledge of pro-environment issues, and therefore need education to explain why, when and how to act
Behavioural immune system
disgust is considered the emotion that is associated with the behavioural immune system
-a psychological mechanism that enables people to detect the presence of parasites or pathogens in their environment and promts them to avoid contact with those ibjects or individuals
disgust can stop us from living sustainably
Disgust propensity r-0.40 -> willingness to pay more for the more sustainable alternative
disgust sensitivity r-01.8 -> willingness to pay more for the more sustainable alternative
list some factors that can be a driver of pro-environmental behaviour
-sadness
anticipated emotions
refer to expectation that engaging in a particular behaviour makes us experience positive or negative emotions
power of emotional motives
research has shown that emotional motives ca outweight isntrumental consequences of pro environmental behaviour
hedonic
the view that emotions related to environmental behaviour have their roots in the behaviour being a pleasurable or unpleasurable experience
eudaimonic
the view that positive and negative emotions related to environmental behaviour have their roots in the behaviour being a moral and meaningful eperience.
