Collective climate action: When do people turn into collective environmental agents?

Facilitative effect of awe on cooperation: The role of the small-self and self-other inclusion

Awe has been theorized as a kind of self-transcendence emotion that has an important impact on individual social behavior. Based on the self-transcendence of awe, this study examined how awe can increase small-self and self-other inclusion to facilitate cooperation among individuals across three studies (N = 1162). First, the relationship between awe, cooperative propensity, and the mediating role of small-self and self-other inclusion in the relationship was examined using questionnaires on trait levels (Study 1). Second, awe emotions were induced from the state level through behavioral experiments to verify the facilitative effect on cooperative behavior in multiple rounds of public goods dilemma (Study 2). Third, by adding the induction of negative awe to discuss the impact of different valence of awe on cooperative behavior, the mediating role of small-self and self-other inclusion was supported (Study 3). Results show that awe has a facilitative effect on cooperation, which provides strong evidence for the positive social function of self-transcendent emotional awe.

Promoting collective precycling behavior: results from a group intervention with Berlin households in Germany

To tackle the global waste crisis, there is an urgent need for decisive and joint action at multiple levels. The collective behavior of a community could make a significant contribution. This paper presents the results of a field experiment designed to promote packaging waste prevention - called precycling - in a newly formed community setting, in Berlin, Germany. The aim was to examine the effect of the intervention on precycling and to examine the underlying social identity processes. Over a four-week period, 132 participants from 96 different households digitally received a combination of different interventions, that were theoretically informed by the Social Identity Model of Pro-Environmental Action (SIMPEA). Households were assigned to two intervention groups and a waiting control group. Data was collected before, immediately after and four months after the intervention to assess the impact of the intervention using multilevel models. After the intervention, the overall precycling behavior increased significantly, but not as a result of the different group conditions. In the more comprehensive intervention group, which included social interaction and behavioral experimentation, the community identification was strengthened and the reuse behavior, as a subset of precycling, increased. While a number of social identity processes (collective efficacy beliefs, having a precycling action goal, crisis appraisal, and sufficiency attitudes) were found to positively predict the precycling behavior, surprisingly, the predictive power of social norms and ingroup identification could not be confirmed. Overall, the presented community intervention promoted precycling. However, in this dynamic real-world setting, not all intervention elements worked as expected. The pitfalls and opportunities of this intervention are discussed, and ideas for translating the results into everyday precycling activities are presented.

Climate change anxiety, fear, and intention to act

Climate change anxiety (CCA) is an emerging yet not clearly defined construct. Here, we examine the relationship between CCA and climate change-related fear in response to messages differently framing uncertainty and anticipation concerning climate change, exploring how the former differs from general anxiety measures. To this purpose, young and healthy volunteers were assigned to three different framing conditions. Their emotional responses as well as eco-emotions and beliefs about climate change were collected. By employing a Bayesian approach, we found that framing the consequences of climate change effectively induces heightened fear and that CCA strongly predicted fear levels, while general anxiety measures did not. Overall, these results reflect CCA's unique and specific nature in influencing climate change-related fear. Interestingly, we found fear to predict intention scores only following the framings that did not effectively induce action intentions, consistent with prior findings on fear without efficacy framing. Instead, reading about the negative consequences motivated action the most. Following this framing, we found that eco-anger, instead of fear, consistently predicted intentions to engage in climate action. These results emphasize the complex interplay between CCA, eco-emotions, efficacy, and behavioral engagement.

Believing That We Can Change Our World for the Better: A Triple-A (Agent-Action-Aim) Framework of Self-Efficacy Beliefs in the Context of Collective Social and Ecological Aims

PUBLIC ABSTRACT

Many people do not act together against climate change or social inequalities because they feel they or their group cannot make a difference. Understanding how people come to feel that they can achieve something (a perception of self-efficacy) is therefore crucial for motivating people to act together for a better world. However, it is difficult to summarize already existing self-efficacy research because previous studies have used many different ways of naming and measuring it. In this article, we uncover the problems that this raises and propose the triple-A framework as a solution. This new framework shows which agents, actions, and aims are important for understanding self-efficacy. By offering specific recommendations for measuring self-efficacy, the triple-A framework creates a basis for mobilizing human agency in the context of climate change and social injustice.

Formative experiences and psychological distance in the lives of contemporary environmentalists

Introduction

We use the term "environmentalists" to describe the people who are highly and actively engaged and involved in environmental issues like climate change. Environmentalists consistently advocate, research, or volunteer to do the work needed to address environmental challenges. Factors that drive contemporary environmentalists remain understudied.

Methods

We, therefore, ask: what formative experiences drive environmentalists on climate change and other environmental problems at present? We frame this exploration through the significant life experiences (SLE) literature, which examines people and environmental pathways. We also ask: how do feelings of perceptual/actual distance or closeness to environmental threats and climate change shape a person's decision to become an environmentalist? We anchor this query to the psychological distance (PD) literature that explores how people perceive external phenomena and the role distance plays in their conception. To answer both questions, we use qualitative methods and draw on 33 interviews with environmentalists involved in environmental protection work for an average of 91 h in the past 4 weeks.

Results

We find that environmentalists spoke about several formative experiences broadly consistent with what has been documented in the SLE literature. Traumatic experiences were especially influential for our sample of environmentalists. Our findings also reveal that PD, especially social, plays a role in the lives of environmentalists.

Discussion

Study findings could help scholars and practitioners deepen their understanding of contemporary environmentalists. Practitioners, in particular, could use this knowledge to help environmentalists by providing them with tailored resources and support.

When social movements fail or succeed: social psychological consequences of a collective action's outcome

Collective actions occur all around the world and, in the last few years, even more frequently. Previous literature has mainly focused on the antecedents of collective actions, but less attention has been given to the consequences of participating in collective action. Moreover, it is still an open question how the consequences of collective action might differ, depending on whether the actions are perceived to succeed or fail. In two studies we seek to address this gap using innovative experimental studies. In Study 1 (N = 368) we manipulated the perceptions of success and failure of a collective action in the context of a real social movement, the Chilean student movement from last decade. In Study 2 (N = 169), in addition to manipulating the outcome, we manipulated actual participation, using a mock environmental organization aiming to create awareness in authorities, to test the causal effect of both participation and success/failure on empowerment, group efficacy, and intentions of future involvement in normative and non-normative collective actions. Results show that current and past participation predict overall participation in the future, however, in Study 2 the manipulated participation was associated with having less intentions of participating in the future. In both studies, perception of success increases group efficacy. In Study 1, we found that when facing failure, participants increase their willingness to participate more in the future as opposed to non-participants that actually decrease theirs. In Study 2, however, failure increases the perception of efficacy for those with a history of non-normative participation. Altogether these results highlight the moderating role of the outcome of collective action to understand the effect of participation on future participation. We discuss these results in light of the methodological innovation and the real world setting in which our studies were conducted.

Minority Influence and Degrowth-Oriented Pro-environmental Conflict: When Emotions Betray Our Attachment to the Social Dominant Paradigm

If today the anthropogenic origin of climate change gathers almost total scientific consensus, human pro-environmental action is not changing with sufficient impact to keep global warming within the 1.5° limit. Environmental psychology has traditionally focused on the underlying barriers towards more pro-environmental behaviours. Emotions-like fear or anger-may act as such barriers especially in case of radical change (e.g., degrowth). While minority influence has been extensively applied to understand societal change, it has rarely been applied to understand the emotional responses that may hinder counter-normative pro-environmental messages. However, past literature on emotions shows that, in challenging situations-the likes of radical minority conflict-people will tend to use their emotional reaction to maintain societal status quo. Two studies investigated how participants emotionally react towards a counter-normative pro-environmental minority message (advocating degrowth). A qualitative (thematic analyses) and a quantitative (emotional self-report paradigm) studies showed that participants report emotions that allow them to realign themselves with the cultural backdrop of the social dominant paradigm (growth), thus resisting change. Specifically, although all participants tend to demonstrate higher proportions of control-oriented emotions, men do so more. These effects, as well as questions of cultural and ideological dominance, are discussed considering barriers towards pro-environmentalism.

Agency Through the We: Group-Based Control Theory

How do people maintain a sense of control when they realize the noncontingencies in their personal life and their strong interdependence with other people? Why do individuals continue to act on overwhelming collective problems, such as climate change, that are clearly beyond their personal control? Group-based control theory proposes that it is social identification with agentic groups and engagement in collective action that serve to maintain and restore people’s sense of control, especially when their personal control is threatened. As a consequence, group-based control may enable people to act adaptively and stay healthy even when personal control seems futile. These claims are supported by evidence showing increased in-group identification and group-based action intentions following reminders of low personal control. Furthermore, these responses of identifying with agentic in-groups increase people’s perceived control and well-being. This article succinctly presents group-based control theory and relevant empirical findings. It also elaborates on how group-based control relates to other social-identity motives and how it may explain social phenomena.

Adolescents' thoughts and feelings about the local and global environment: a qualitative interview study

BACKGROUND

Despite a recent increase in engagement with environmental issues among young people, their impact upon adolescent mental health and wellbeing is not yet fully understood. Therefore, this study aimed to explore adolescents' thoughts and feelings about current environmental issues.

METHODS

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a convenience sample of 15 UK-based adolescents aged 14-18 years (66.7% female). Transcripts were inductively thematically analysed by the interviewing researcher and two adolescent co-researchers, with priority given to the co-researchers' impressions to strengthen interpretations of the personal experiences of the interviewees.

RESULTS

Six themes were identified: the local environment, efficacy, challenging emotions, information, hindrances and perceptions of the future. The local environment was found to affect adolescents positively and negatively. Factors including greenspace and fresh air had a positive impact, and factors including noise and litter had a negative impact. Most participants reported feeling disempowered to personally influence environmental problems but were engaged with them and felt that trying to make a difference was beneficial for their wellbeing. Adolescents largely reported negative expectations about the environment's future.

CONCLUSION

The UK adolescents interviewed appeared to be very engaged and emotionally affected by a perceived lack of care towards the environment, locally and globally. It is therefore imperative to amplify young people's voices and involve them in influencing environmental policy, for the benefit of young people and the planet. Further research should quantify the extent to which environmental issues affect young people's mental health and identify factors that could prevent or alleviate distress.

Editorial overview: Six messages of climate psychology

In response to the climate emergency, psychologists have produced a surge of theoretical and empirical work on climate change over the past fifteen years. For this editorial, we outline six messages of climate psychology that emerge from this growing corpus of work. Three messages focus on how to promote sustainable behavior change among individuals: 1) harness individual motivation, 2) nurture pro-climate norms, and 3) address individual resistance. The others focus on how to support collective efforts to resist an unsustainable status quo and work together for a more sustainable future: 4) recognize collective struggles, 5) elevate transformational narratives, and 6) pursue durable peace. These messages highlight the importance of personal experiences and intergroup dynamics for understanding and addressing the climate crisis.