Abstract

We developed pledges that capitalized on several self-related properties (e.g., freedom of choice, actual-ought self-discrepancies, foot-in-door technique) and manipulated two experimental factors: pledge beneficiary and pledge audience. In two studies, participants received a recycling pledge based on a random assignment in a 2 (Beneficiaries: Nature vs. Self) × 2 (Audience: Ingroup vs. Outgroup) design. Afterwards, we assessed their pro-environmental beliefs and provided them with a behavioral opportunity to support conservation (i.e., recycling debriefing forms in Study 1, writing letters to congresspeople regarding an environmental policy in Study 2). In both studies, an interaction between beneficiaries and audience was observed, showing that a recycling pledge framed as benefitting nature and sponsored by a social ingroup led to more progressive environmental beliefs. In Study 2, individuals in the same condition (i.e., the nature-ingroup pledge) wrote more persuasive letters (longer and more sophisticated letters) supporting pro-environmental legislation. Implications for constructing effective pledges and for leveraging the self to promote pro-environmental action are discussed.

Highlights

  • The adverse impact of human activity on the planet is undeniable

  • Because psychology studies human motivation and behavior, psychologists must play a key role in developing strategies to foster pro-environmental action [8,9,10]

  • Study 1 examined how recycling pledges that varied in pledge audience and pledge beneficiary affected post-pledge environmental beliefs [53] and recycling behavior

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Summary

Introduction

The adverse impact of human activity on the planet is undeniable. In addition to the impact of industrialization, individual behaviors harm the environment. Residential waste can lead to the toxic contamination of fragile ecosystems; improving people’s beliefs about the benefits of recycling increases the waste recovery of harmful household materials [6,7]. Because psychology studies human motivation and behavior, psychologists must play a key role in developing strategies to foster pro-environmental action [8,9,10]. We focused on conservation pledges that leveraged several important properties of the self that underlie core psychological motivations [11,12,13,14]

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