Abstract
For almost fifty years researchers have endeavored to identify the factors that influence individuals’ performance of environmentally significant behavior, with inconsistent results. This quest has become even more urgent as newly released scientific reports provide mounting evidence of global climate change and other types of anthropogenic environmental degradation. In order to change individuals’ behavior on a large scale, it is necessary to change their habits of thinking. Using insights from Grid-group cultural theory and cognitive sociology, this mixed-methods study examined the factors that influence pro-environmental behavior among a nationally representative US sample (n = 395). Qualitative results indicate that individuals develop culturally-specific environmental socio-cognitive schemas which they use to assign meaning to the environment and guide their environmentally significant behavior. Quantitative results indicate cultural orientation, pro-environmental orientation, environment identity, and environmental influence predict pro-environmental behavior. Applying these combined theoretical perspectives to the social problem of environmental degradation could facilitate the development of targeted strategies for bringing about impactful behavioral change.
Highlights
Global climate change is an urgent environmental issue
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warns that continued emission of greenhouse gases will have severe and irreversible consequences, the risks of anthropogenic environmental degradation can be mitigated with changes in behavior patterns
In this study I combined grid-group cultural theory and cognitive sociology to examine the following research questions: what factors influence the performance of pro-environmental behavior?; and how do these factors differ by cultural orientation? I hypothesize that individuals develop culturally specific environmental socio-cognitive schemas which guide their performance of environmentally significant behavior
Summary
Global climate change is an urgent environmental issue. The IPCC warns that continued emission of greenhouse gases will have severe and irreversible consequences, the risks of anthropogenic environmental degradation can be mitigated with changes in behavior patterns. As scientific evidence of environmental degradation mounts, so too does “environmental skepticism” [5] among members of the general public, as well as outright repudiation among conservative think tanks and foundations [6,7,8]. The social problem of environmental degradation represents the ultimate “commons dilemma” [10]; an individual’s personal objective (want/need satisfaction) conflicts with that of the group (resource viability). This article reports the results of a nationally representative mixed-methods study examining how Americans’ thinking about the environment influences their performance of pro-environmental behavior
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