Psychosocial Predispositions Towards Sustainability and Their Relationship with Environmental Identity

Natalia Nieblas Soto,Lucia Poggio,Blanca Silvia Fraijo-Sing,César Octavio Tapia-Fonllem,Ricardo Ernesto Pérez Ibarra

doi:10.3390/su12177195

Abstract

Environmental psychology is a particular area or subfield of psychology, especially involved in the delimitation of the causes and solutions of environmental problems. This area deals with the study of the interactions between human behavior and the socio-physical components of the environment. The emphasis on the interrelationship of environment and behavior is important; not only physical settings affect people’s behavior, individuals actively influence the environment. Thus, several studies have proposed the existence of a series of predispositions which allow the appreciation of diversity and the interdependence of person–environment relationships, making it possible to adopt lifestyles that can guarantee the sustainability of socio-ecological systems for present and future generations. Therefore, in order to work towards the goals of sustainability, it is necessary to know which are the inclinations or dispositions that people present when caring for the environment. The objective of this research was to identify the association between the variables of psychosocial predispositions towards sustainability with environmental identity in a sample of higher education students from southern Sonora. Nine different scales to measure these predispositions were applied to 417 students, considering emotions towards the environment, environmental and socio-environmental actions, as well as a scale to measure environmental identity. Results revealed, on the one hand, that first-order factors emerged consistently, indicating the presence of a higher-order factor (psychosocial predispositions towards sustainability). On the other hand, we found this construct is related in a bidirectional way with environmental identity, that is, that both the emotions and actions carried out by the students in favor of the environment are related to the degree of identification they have with it, and vice versa, thereby demonstrating an interdependence relationship between these two variables. These findings suggest that the presence of certain psychological characteristics in people would promote a closer relationship with nature, which could encourage participation in caring for the environment.

Highlights

Environmental psychology refers to an area of psychology whose subject of research is the interrelationship between the physical environment and human behavior and experience
One of the purposes of this study was to test the relationships between emotions, environmental actions, and socio-environmental actions by identifying the pertinence between them and conforming a higher-order factor, which was named Psychosocial Predispositions towards Sustainability
The model that is proposed in this research has been replicated in several studies [9,16,34]; the contents of the items in some of the variables were adjusted for the population at which they were aimed, which is the reason why there was a need to modify the name of the construct itself

Summary

Introduction

Environmental psychology refers to an area of psychology whose subject of research is the interrelationship between the physical environment and human behavior and experience. It is important to emphasize the reciprocal aspect of this relationship, since it is the physical scenarios that have an impact on people’s behavior, but it is that individuals have an active influence on environments [1]. Hidalgo [3] mentioned that the work carried out in the field of environmental psychology contributed and provided solutions, increasing human well-being through the analysis of the interrelation of people with the environment (natural and/or built) that surrounds them. From a conceptual point of view, environmental behaviors are a set of environmental actions carried out by individuals in the community towards the environment which encompass a wide range of emotions, tendencies, and specific prerequisites for behavior [6]. Similar work has been carried out by Kals [7], who found that affective factors such as feelings of guilt, indignation at insufficient conservation of nature and interest in nature can provoke ecological behavior

Methods

Results

Conclusion