Most People Think They Are More Pro-Environmental than Others: A Demonstration of the Better-than-Average Effect in Perceived Pro-Environmental Behavioral Engagement

Primus inter pares effect in high schools

Primus inter pares effect or better-than-average effect is cognitive bias known as illusory superiority in which individuals overestimate their positive abilities and traits in comparison to others. Overestimation and bias are often accompanied with various dangers on a personal, organizational or even societal level. We investigated the presence of overestimation among high school graduates in Slovenia in areas of teamwork, interpersonal skills, emotional intelligence, problem solving, and decision making. Although overestimation was present in all areas, results have also shown indications of indecisiveness. Overestimation was highest in the area of interpersonal skills, which is more of a social skill area in comparison with decision making or problem solving. Individuals probably receive more feedback over the course of high school in decision making, problem solving, and teamwork than in interpersonal skills, as those can directly impact grades while interpersonal skills less so.

Psychology of Climate Change

Human behavior plays a critical role in causing global climate change as well as in responding to it. In this article, I review important insights on the psychology of climate change. I first discuss factors that affect the likelihood that individuals engage in a wide range of climate actions. Next, I review the processes through which values affect climate actions and reflect on how to motivate climate actions among people who do not strongly care about nature, the environment, and climate change. Then I explain that even people who may be motivated to engage in climate actions may not do so when they face major barriers to act. This implies that to promote wide-scale climate actions, broader system changes are needed. I discuss relevant factors that affect public support for system changes that facilitate and enable climate action. Finally, I summarize key lessons learned and identify important questions for future research.

Understanding employees’ voluntary pro-environmental behavior in public organizations – an integrative theory approach

Purpose

This paper aims to investigate the impact of situational factors and internal psychological states on employees’ decisions to perform voluntary pro-environmental behavior. This study used a model combining the theory of planned behavior, norm activation model and comprehensive action determination model. This stud also explored the moderating role of habit (HAB) on the relationship between intention and actual voluntary pro-environmental behavior.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected through three waves of time-lagged survey questionnaires from 519 employees of public organizations in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Findings

Employees’ perceptions of corporate social responsibility (CSR) had a significant impact on intention to perform voluntary pro-environmental behavior, as did all other variables except perceived behavioral control. HABs related to pro-environmental behavior enhanced the relationship between intention and actual behavior.

Practical implications

The main factors influencing employees’ voluntary pro-environmental behavioral intentions were perceived CSR, personal moral norms, organizational citizenship behaviors toward the environment and attitude. Public organization planners, managers and practitioners can use these findings to improve their organization’s environmental performance, leveraging nonmandated actions.

Social implications

Employees can achieve a better work–life balance in organizations with flexible CSR policies and which sponsor social activities to improve public well-being and individuals’ life quality. Positive sense-making of corporate social activity helps employees develop social interactions with stakeholders, increasing their involvement in society and decreasing work stress.

Originality/value

This study sheds light on the factors influencing employees’ voluntary pro-environmental behavior. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study of its kind to combine these three models to explain the variables affecting intent to perform voluntary pro-environmental behavior in the workplace.

Modelling pandemic behaviour using an economic multiplayer game

During a pandemic, isolating oneself from the community limits viral transmission and helps avoid repeated societal lockdowns. This entails a social dilemma—either distance oneself from others for the benefit of the public good or free-ride and enjoy the benefits of freedom. It is not yet understood how the unfamiliar incentive structure and interpersonal context presented by a pandemic together modulate individuals’ approach to this social dilemma. In this preregistered study, we take a game-theoretical approach and investigate people’s decisions to self-isolate, using a novel iterated multiplayer game designed to capture the decision-making environment in the pandemic. To elucidate players’ thinking, we use a variation of the strategy method and elicit beliefs about how much others will self-isolate. Players tend to respond to social norms with abidance, rather than transgression; they resist the temptation to freeride when others are self-isolating. However, they deal with exponential growth poorly, as they only self-isolate sufficiently when lockdowns are imminent. Further, increased collective risk can motivate more self-isolation, even though the link between self-isolation and lockdowns is stochastic. Players underreport the influence of others’ choices on their own, and underestimate others’ self-isolation. We discuss implications for public health, and communication to the public.

The Mexican Ecological Conscience: A Predictive Model

Recently, the number of Mexicans who buy sustainable products has been increasing, which has led to sustainable trade. Therefore, the objective of this study is to determine which variables have a greater effect on Mexicans’ intention to buy green products, their ecological awareness, or moral obligation, and, in turn, to determine the degree to which moral obligation is affected by ecological awareness. A sample of 690 Mexicans was obtained, and a PLS–SEM model was applied for data analysis. The results confirmed that both a moral obligation and ecological awareness explain the intention to purchase green products, with ecological awareness contributing the most to the intention. Furthermore, the findings showed that moral obligation is affected by ecological awareness. The originality of the article is that it contributes to the consumer behavior literature by providing an insight for companies that manufacture sustainable products to understand and promote environmentally conscious consumer behavior. However, there are some limitations that can be addressed in future research.

Sustainable behavior in motion: designing mobile eco-driving feedback information systems

Emissions from road traffic contribute to climate change. One approach to reducing the carbon footprint is providing eco-driving feedback so that drivers adapt their driving style. Research about the impact of eco-feedback on energy consumption is the basis for designing a mobile eco-driving feedback information system that supports drivers in reducing fuel consumption. This work develops design knowledge from existing knowledge. Subsequently, we implement a prototypical instantiation based on the derived knowledge. Insights from a field study suggest that our design artifact allows most drivers to decrease fuel consumption by 4% on average. The paper’s theoretical contribution is a set of design principles and an architecture of the proposed mobile eco-driving feedback information system. One recommendation is to provide normative feedback that compares drivers with each other. This feedback appears to encourage drivers to decrease their fuel consumption additionally. The design knowledge may support researchers and practitioners in implementing efficient eco-driving feedback information systems.

Biased perception of the environmental impact of everyday behaviors

Despite our concern about climate change, certain psychological barriers hinder the adoption of a pro-environmental lifestyle. In the present study (n = 186), we analyzed the participants' estimates of the environmental impact of their lifestyles, compared to their moral standards and the perceived normative impact. Results show that individuals recognize their lifestyle is more unsustainable than what is generally acceptable, yet they consider the lifestyle of others to be even more harmful. Furthermore, we studied the role of compensatory green beliefs on the biases in the estimated environmental impacts. The results showed that individuals tend to consider that pro-environmental behaviors have a neutral environmental impact. Thus, our research suggests the existence of a bias in individuals' perception of environmental impacts.

From values to climate action

To mitigate anthropogenic climate change, it is important to know what motivates individuals to support and take climate action. Values reflect universal, general, desirable goals which guide individuals' preferences and actions. Stronger biospheric values (caring about the environment), in particular, predict stronger engagement in climate action. Although many individuals have strong biospheric values, contextual barriers can inhibit their climate actions. Notably, policies and contextual changes that reduce contextual barriers can motivate and enable individuals to act on their biospheric values. In addition, public participation may better engage public values in climate policies and actions as to increase their acceptability. Finally, correcting biases that others have weaker biospheric values than oneself may also motivate individuals to support and take climate action.

The Influence of Dissonance Induction and Assessment Reactivity in Improving Adherence to COVID-19 Precautionary Measures: A Cluster Randomised Controlled Trial

Background

During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, adherence to suggested precautionary measures has been emphasized as important in preventing and curtailing its spread. However, strict adherence to precautionary measures can be demanding.

Methods

This cluster randomised controlled trial done among 1517 undergraduate dental students tested the effectiveness of ‘dissonance induction’ (DI) and ‘assessment reactivity’ (AR) in improving adherence to World Health Organization (WHO) measures as compared to a control group. At baseline, participants in the DI group were tested for their knowledge of precautionary measures, immediately followed by assessment of their adherence to them. This methodology was adapted to systematically reveal the poor adherence of the participants in their self-held cognitions, should there be any. The magnitude of dissonance was measured as the proportion of such dissonant cognitions held by an individual. In the AR group, at baseline, participants were asked about their attitudes alone toward measures. The control group was neither assessed for knowledge and adherence nor for attitudes toward the measures at baseline. Two weeks after the administration of these interventions in the DI and AR groups, the 3 study groups were assessed for adherence.

Results

The follow-up adherence scores in the DI group were found to be significantly higher (15.11 ± 4.1) compared to the AR (13.13 ± 2.01) and control (12.87 ± 2.97) groups as analysed by Kruskal-Wallis analysis of variance (H = 243.5; P < .001). Wilcoxon signed-rank test showed that the adherence scores significantly improved in the DI group from baseline to follow-up (z = -8.84; P < .001). Magnitude of dissonance at baseline was found to be a significant predictor of follow-up adherence scores (R² = 0.255).

Conclusion

This study found that DI is an easy intervention to bring an immediate and significant change in adherence to precautionary measures.