Individual differences in place attachment and pro-environmental behavior: Pride as an emotional tie

Abstract

Place attachment is a form of cognitive and affective bond that individuals develop relationships with their environment. Four studies (N = 1234), including one preregistered study, examined whether place attachment improves people's pride emotion, which in turn increases their pro-environmental behavior. Results showed that participants who experienced higher place attachment (Studies 1–2), imagined living in a higher place attachment city (Study 3), or visualized a higher attachment place (Study 4), tended to engage in more pro-environmental behaviors. Moreover, pride mediated the link between place attachment and pro-environmental behavior (Studies 2–4). Together, these findings reconfirm the relationship between place attachment and pro-environmental behavior and imply the effect of pride in understanding psychological outcomes following place attachment and emotional factors facilitating pro-environmental behavior.