What Social Scientists Know… Research-based Practices for Promoting Conservation Behavior Lucy Gertz
Understanding Human Behavior “All human actions have one or more of these seven causes: chance, nature, compulsion, habits, reason, passion, and desire.” Aristotle 384-322BC “Unless you believe, you will not understand” Saint Augustine 354-430AD Knowledge makes you think. Emotion makes you act. “A thing cannot be understood until it is known by all four aspects of our being: mind, body, emotion, and spirit.”
"In the end we will conserve only what we love; we will love only what we understand; and we will understand only what we are taught." -Baba Dioum, 1968
Love Action
" It doesn’t matter so much how a person feels about nature, or how much they know about nature… …what matters is how they vote, how they eat, how they shop, their transportation uses, their lifestyle behaviors.”
Experts on Conservation Behavior Psychology – scientific study of behavior Sociology – the study of human behavior in groups Environmental Psychology – study of the interplay between individuals and their surroundings Conservation Psychology – study of reciprocal relationship between individuals and the natural environment
Here’s what I learned so far… People act for reasons. Human behavior is not necessarily rational, but it is predictable.
So why do people act as they do? Attitudes Environmental Concern Values Biases Behavior
Attitudes - a person’s favorable or unfavorable evaluation ABC’s of Attitudes Affect – emotional response Behavioral Intention – planned course of action Cognition – beliefs associated with object
The climate is changing. Climate change is caused by carbon emissions associated with human behavior I’m worried that climate change will cause problems for future generations. I want to do something to prevent climate change from happening. I’m going to install energy efficient light bulbs in my home to help.
Environmental Concern - the affective part of an attitude - worry about the harmful consequences of environmental problems Reasons for Environmental Concern: Personal Reasons (egoistic) financial, lifestyle, health, convenience Social Reasons (altruistic) other people, future generations, children Ecological Reasons (biospheric) plants, animals, natural communities
Values “Desirable goals that serve as guiding principles in a person’s life” Abstract and transcend specific situations Relatively stable over time Prioritize individually wealth (material possessions, money) success (achieving goals) honesty (genuine, sincere) helpful (working for the welfare of others) daring (seeking adventure, risk) pleasure (feeling good) humble (modest) politeness (courtesy, good manners)
Biases - environmental attitudes are biased Research shows that individuals do not form objective beliefs 1. Attitudes are not rational. 2. Attitudes are motivated to enhance and maintain a favorable image of ourselves. 3. Attitudes are motivated to view the world as safe and predictable Types of Biases: Temporal Spatial Social
Stone Age Biases (Van Vougt 2014) – We’re here today because our ancestors survived and reproduced. Our brains and behaviors are adaptive, fitted to the demands of our environment. Adaptive in the past does not necessarily mean adaptive today. We’re biologically predisposed to act in certain ways, to exhibit certain patterns of behavior. These patterns of behavior have led to some of the environmental problems that we see today. Our stone-age brains cause many of the environmental problems, but maybe they can be used to solve them.
Behavioral Genetics Human History – A Brief Summary 4 million years ago 2.4 million years ago 1.5 million years ago 150,000 years ago 40,000 years ago 10,000 years ago 5000 years ago 500 years ago t he last 100 years…
Understanding Fred Flintstone Five evolved psychological biases: 1. Self-Interest personal over collective interests 2. Shortsightedness value present more than future 3. Status-seeking relative status is most important 4. Social imitation the behavior of others around them 5. Sensing Prioritize threats that are salient and present (i.e., things we can see, smell, or touch)
Behavior Attitudes, concerns, and values can change. Changing attitudes rarely leads to changes in behavior. Changing concerns rarely leads to changes in behavior. Attitudes do not generally predict behavior. So, what does predict behavior?
Theory of Planned Behavior - Model for predicting when attitudes will produce behavior Attitude: favorable/unfavorable evaluations Subjective norms: beliefs about what others who are important to me think I should do Perceived behavior control: beliefs about the ease or difficulty of a behavior
Cognitive Dissonance - Basic tendency for humans to maintain consistency in their thoughts and actions Dissonance is an unpleasant state of tension that a person experiences when their thoughts and behaviors are inconsistent. Pressure to reduce the tension by: 1. Changing the attitude 2. Justify the behavior and retain the attitude
Connectedness to Nature Inclusion Model - An individual's beliefs about the extent to which s/he is part of the natural environment. “I am a part of nature, or I am separate from nature.” A - Affective – the extent to which an individual cares about plants and animals B - Behavioral – an individual’s commitment to act in ways that benefit the natural environment C - Cognitive – connectedness between self and nature
Value-Belief-Norm Values-guiding principles in a person’s life Egoistic – focus on self Altruistic – focus on other people Biospheric – focus on the environment Beliefs - thoughts about the qualities of a person, place, event, or idea. - about the potential harmful consequences to a valued object (self, others, biosphere) - about the possibility that one’s actions can make a difference Norms Personal obligation to take action
Biophilia - Love of nature Wilson (1984, 1993)- humans have a genetic, evolution-based need for deep and intimate association with the natural environment, particularly its living biota. Deprivation of this contact will lead to decreased physical and psychological health. Studies found that people hiking or camping in the wilderness report reduced stress. Several studies have found that people recover from surgery faster when exposed to natural environments. Humans evolved over millions of years in natural environments. Because of this evolution process, humans will have a biological disposition to favor clean, safe environments with plenty of food and water. People in all parts of the world use plants and pets to enrich their living environments. People choose to recreate in natural environments.
Behavior Change Understandable (through scientific study of behavior) Predictable, but not necessarily rational Changeable Behavior Change Techniques… Information-Based Community-Based Social Marketing
Education - assumes that people don’t act because they don’t know
Education True or false? 1. Knowledge will correlate with behavior 2. Educational efforts will lead to an increase in knowledge 3. Increasing knowledge will cause a change in behavior
Raising Awareness -assumes that people don’t act because they don’t care Knowledge is not a motive for behavior, but lack of knowledge can be a barrier. True or false? 1. Attitudes are correlated with behavior 2. Attitudes can be changed by providing information (printed media, television, radio, in-person) 3. Changing attitudes causes a change in behavior
Community-Based Social Marketing 1. Select Behavior 2. Barriers & Benefits 3. Develop Strategy 4. Pilot Test and Evaluate 5. Implement Broadly
Selecting the Behavior Specific Impactful End-state IPPA Assessment: Impact - How much will it affect the goal? Probability - How difficult is change? Penetration - How many already engaged? Applicability – What is the proportion for whom is it relevant?
T ools to enhance motivation Incentives Contests Social Modeling Social Norms Convenience Commitments Education Feedback Prompts Cognitive Dissonance
T ools to enhance motivation Incentives Contests Social Modeling Social Norms Convenience Commitments Education Feedback Prompts Cognitive Dissonance
T ools to enhance motivation Incentives Contests Social Modeling Social Norms Convenience Commitments Education Feedback Prompts Cognitive Dissonance
Next… Moving Birders toward Pro-Conservation Behaviors… …that support local and global bird populations Target audience identified Target behaviors selected Audience analysis conducted Build support within Mass Audubon Develop the messages and the means of delivery Pilot test Make improvements Scale up to implement model more broadly
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