Blok 3: Social science and environmental behaviour Flashcards
• convey insights into the interactions between human behavior and the physical environment
Why is the behavioral science perspective important?
§ If there is only a physical perspective and scientists and policy makers only look at the things like carbon filters, waste management and the like
§ If the average consumption level were to go up the total amount of pollution would still stay the same or increase.
§ That’s why it’s important for human behavior to also be taken into account.
What are the 4 steps in understanding and managing environmental problems
□ Problem analysis
□ Policy decision-making
□ Practical intervention
Evaluation of policy effectiveness
What can behavioral scientists do to enhance environmental qualities?
§ ‘look over the fence’ and familiarizing themselves with specific c domains of environmental problems.
§ conceptualize and analyze environmental problems as socio-behavioral problems. For example, urban air pollution may be conceived as a problem due to many individual emitters of harmful exhaust gases whose motivation rests largely on the immediate needs and benefits involved, as well as on perceived social norms.
§ conduct empirical studies to test and revise conceptual models and hypotheses about specific environmental problems. For example, research may be able to clarify the reasons behind rising household energy consumption, personal opinions about and (lack of) potential for energy-saving behavior, and people’s expectations about future quality of life if fossil energy consumption were to be seriously discouraged.
assist policymakers and other professionals in designing, applying and evaluating strategies for the development of sustainable behavior patterns, lifestyles and business cultures
Give 3 dichotomies of environmental behavior and why they are important
• Impact vs intent
□ Intent-oriented definition of behaviour
® focus on what intential actions people undertake to benefit the environment
□ Impact-oriented definition behaviour
® A focus on identifying behaviour associated with a significant environmental impact and examine ways of reducing that impact.
• Efficiency vs curtailment □ Curtailment behaviour § Behaviour limiting the use of appliances □ Efficiency behaviours § Behaviour switching to more efficient appliances • Direct vs indirect □ Direct: car use and waste disposal Indirect: voting green, dontating to environemtnal organisation • These categories are important because each of which is affected differently by relevant psychological, sociodemographic and situational factors. Focusing on intentions is different from thinking about impacts. For example, recycling (intention) is more strongly related to environmental attitudes, while energy use (impact) is more strongly related to household income.
Explain the “actor oriented research perspective”
§ A research perspective focused on human needs, goals, activities and determinants of behaviour with environmental impact.
§ Examine why some people act more pro-environmental than others and what can be done to persuade people
Can identify clusters of behaviour, pro-envorionmental person will peform action A and B but not C
Name and explain 4 behavioral processes
§ deliberation, repetition, social comparison, imitation
• Deliberation:
□ a process of individual reasoning about possible behavioural alternatives
• Repetition: □ an individual process of automatic behaviour , established over time through recurrent positive reinforcements and the absence of major disincentives. • Social comparison: □ A process of attuning one’s behaviour to that one observes in or assumes about other people • Imitation: a process of automatically copying other people’s behaviour or their behavioural norms or expectations.
What is a commons dilemma?
§ A situation of conflict between a collective interest and numerous individual interests. In pursuing their own personal interest, many individuals tend to shift the negative impact of their behaviour onto their common environment. The cumulative effect of these numerous small impacts may lead to deterioration of collective environmental qualities.
What are the 4 categories for research and policy making into commons dillemmas? Name 3 issues for each
• Problem diagnosis
§ Analysis of collective risk, annoyance and stress
§ Analysis of socio-behavioral factors and processes underlying risk generation
§ Assessing problem awareness, risk appraisal and actor’s individual values and benefits
• Policy decision-making § Weighing of collectibe risk against total individual benefits § Setting objectives for reducing environmental and/or social risk (if needed) § Translation of risk reduction objectives into individual behavioral goals • Practical intervention § Looking at indicidual target groups and considering the conditions needed for policy effectiveness § Comming up with feasible alternatives and selecting effective policy instruments § Application of strategic programme of behaviorral change • Evaluation of effectiveness § Designing a monitoring and evaluation programme to determine polict effectiveness § Evaluation of obervable effects and side-effects Intermittent and post hoc policy feedback, with possilble revision of policies
Constitutive policies
§ Policies that aim to influence behaviour indirectly by creating preconditions for behaviour (such as education, infrastructure equipment)
What is (Cooperation) in regards to the commons dilemma?
§ Maximizing behavioural outcome for one’s own interest and the common good
What is (Defection) in regards to the commons dilemma?
Maximizing behavioural outcome for one’s own interest at the cost of the common good
what are Directive policie
§ Policies that aim to influence behaviour directly (through instructions, prohibitions, price incentives)
Impact oriented research perspective
§ A research perspective focusing on physicochemical processes from source to sink.
what are Informational strategies for behavioural change in the commons dilemma?
§ Strategies aimed at provide information in order to changing individual perceptions, motivations and preferences, inducing actors to behave in cooperative manner while leaving the basic nature structure of the commons dilemma unchanged.
Explain the IPAT formula and its different elements. (see notes for figure)
Way to describe environmental decline
§ Formula stating that for any geographic unit, total environmental impact (I) is a product of population size (P), average per capita level of affluence (A) and the environmental resource intensity of the technology (T) used to produce one unit of affluence.
§ I = P x A x T
□ Whereby (P) is the number of people, (A) is the volume of production and consumption and (T) the means to produce and consume. P, A and T are influenced by cultural beliefs (C) and institutions (I).
Myths of nature
model of ‘Myths of Nature’ seeking to reflect different archetypal views on the vulnerability of nature. Four Myths are distinguished:
® Nature Capricious (nature is unmanageable and inefficacious system, you never know what will happen next and you can't learn anything about it) ® Nature Tolerant (nature is a robust system, but only to a certain point. We must respect the limits set by experts and authorities ® Nature Benign (nature is robust and resilient. Nature is stable, resources abundant, it's okay to take risks ® Nature Ephemeral. (nature is precarious and in a delicate balance, we need to avoid risks or we could upset the balance)
Explain the NOA model and how it can be used to describe internal and external behavioral determinants
NOA stands for Needs, Opportunities, Abilities
It is a A model for structuring internal and external behavioural determinants where consumer environmental behaviour can be regarded as governed by the Needs (N), Opportunities (O) and Abilities (A) at hand for undertaking a particular resource-consuming activity.
□ Motivation to perform: ® If there is a Need and an Opportunity, people want to consume □ Behavioural Control: ® if there is an opportunity (O) and ability (A), people could consume □ Opportunity Search: if there is a need and capability of fulfilling, people seek an opportunity to consume
What is the New Environmental Paradigm (NEP) scale?
scale including 15 items providing a general measure of a person’s environmental concern and General Environmental Beliefs
What are pull and push policies?
Policies that aim to make environmentally sound behaviour more/less attractive
What is (short sightedness) in regards to the commons dilemma?
A spatially, temporally and socially limited focus, which may hamper long-term problem awareness, strategic planning and policy decision making.
What are survival dilemmas?
Here we speak of cognitive and affective short-sightedness. When making plans for the long term, we often think we’re being rational but there are several ways in which hamper our decision making skills. We attach more importance to the here, us and now
Are dilemma’s which lead people to discount behavioural consequences
- benefit - risk dilemma: discount risk when benefit is attractive
- spatial dilemma : discount risk for remote places
- temporal dillemma: discount risk for delayed future consequences
- social dileamma: discount risk for strangers
What is the Value-belief-norm theory?
See figure 9.6 in book:
combines the value orientation, the NEP and myths of nature
as in norm-activation theory: it is assumed people only act when they feel morally abliged to do so
VBN theory has been tested and explains low cost behavior bettter than high cost (where people’s ability to act and non-environmental belief play a more important role)
What is (value orientation) in regards to the commons dilemma?
Value orientation of people towards common resources. Values are defined here as enduring beliefs that a specific mode of conduct is personally or socially preferable to an opposite or converse mode of conduct or end state
discuss the different perspectives of physical and behavioral scientists in terms of impact orientation vs. actor orientation as regards environmental issues
§ While a physical scientist would tend to address environmental effects and physicochemical processes ‘from source to sink’ (impact orientation)
§ social scientist would be inclined to focus on human needs, goals, activities and determinants of behavior with environmental impact. (actor orientation) § Both are important perspective and are a good starting point to construct policies.
This figure shows that both POVs can be useful an come with different starting points. When trying to make a policy about energy, an impact oriented POV will lead you to address a broad range of energy consumers. If you take an actor oriented POV, you will simultaneously need to address a broad range of environmental impacts
distinguish between impact- and intent-oriented definitions of environmental behavior
§ There is a large variety in environmental behaviors and there have been attempts at classifying them, impact vs intent orientation is one such example.
§ Intent-oriented □ Focus on what people do to benefit the environment (e.g., buying wholefood or recycling) □ Provides no guarantee of environmental sustainability (for lack of knowledge on impact) § Impact-oriented □ focus on specific environmental impacts of behavior, cutting energy and/or materials consumption or waste production
Leaves relevant behavior unspecified, possibly for lack of knowledge about actual sources)
distinguish between impact- and intent-oriented definitions of environmental behavior
§ There is a large variety in environmental behaviors and there have been attempts at classifying them, impact vs intent orientation is one such example.
§ Intent-oriented
□ Focus on what people do to benefit the environment (e.g., buying wholefood or recycling)
□ Provides no guarantee of environmental sustainability (for lack of knowledge on impact
§ Impact-oriented
□ focus on specific environmental impacts of behavior, cutting energy and/or materials consumption or waste production
Leaves relevant behavior unspecified, possibly for lack of knowledge about actual sources)
distinguish between curtailment behaviors and efficiency (decision) behaviors
§ There is a large variety in environmental behaviors and there have been attempts at classifying them, impact vs intent orientation is one such example
§ Curtailment behavior
□ limiting the use of existing appliances, by limiting car use
□ imply repetitive action and a corresponding alertness or newly established habit. Such behaviors are often associated with
increased effort and/or reduced comfort.
§ Efficiency behaviors □ include such actions as switching to a more fuel-efficient car □ behaviors generally call for initial investments but may in the long term save costs. are generally quite effective in reducing environmental impact, and such everyday efficiency gains require little further attention.
What are the 4 essential elements of a commons dilemma?
□ socially defective choices lead to greater gains for the individual than cooperative ones
□ Defective choices detract from others’ benefits
□ All individuals are better off if they all cooperate than if they all defect.
□ The outcomes of individual behavioral choices are also governed by the choices made by others.
What are the macro, meso and micro perspectives in the commons dilemma.
□ Macro or government perspective
® For a political authority, a commons dilemma, is a permanent contrast between a collective risk and a large collection of individuals (air pollution and individual car ownership)
® The minimization of risk and maximization of benefits are incompatible an trade-offs must be made. You cannot have clean air AND unlimited motorized transportation ® A political authority may be hesitant to do something about these risks because they are dependent on the very people whose freedoms they would curtail or on the revenue generated from the risky behavior (car taxes) □ Meso or organizational perspective ® Consumer groups and businesses and their governing bodies ® Can play a double role ◊ Either defend the individual's interests by protecting the individual rights to shift externalities onto the collective ◊ Or support the government led initiative and apply strategies to reduce collective risk through individual behavioral change □ Micro or citizen perspective ® Individual actors ® May be focused on their own benefits in the here and now ® There are several reasons why individuals may not recognize a commons dilemma as such: * Because they are unaware of any collective damage (personal benefit) * Because they do not appreciate their own responsibility for collective problems (short-sightedness) * Because they do not feel the long-term collective risk is serious enough in relation to the numerous short-term benefits and/or because they know there is a collective risk but feel little can be done about it (perceived lack of control)These factors can lead to denial or belittling of the risk
What are the structural factors influencing co-operation or defection in commons dillemmas
□ A distinction is made by structural and psychological factors influencing behavior
□ Structural factors affecting cooperation
® Factors that benefit cooperation
◊ a sense of community along with social control
◊ a sense of control over the outcomes of behavior choices
◊ a balance between individual and collective costs and benefits
◊ general feasibility of cooperation.
describe human ‘short-sightedness’ in terms of four different survival dilemmas
§ Here we speak of cognitive and affective short-sightedness. When making plans for the long term, we often think we’re being rational but there are several ways in which hamper our decision making skills. We attach more importance to the here, us and now
Benefit-risk dilemma: Discounting of risk (when benefits ara attractive)
Spatial dilemma:
Discounting of more spatially remote consequences
Temporal Dilemma:
Discounting of delayed future consequences
Social dilemma:
Discounting of consequences for relative strangers
describe four different behavioral processes in terms of reasoned vs. automatic and private vs. public behavior
§ 2 dichotomies:
□ First
® cognitivism, which maintains that human behavior stems from more or less reasoned cognitive processes involving learning, feeling and thinking. (implies you can change people’s behavior with good information)
® behaviorism, which assumes that human behavior is governed largely by physical, economic and social environmental conditions or manipulations (think Pavlov’s dog)
□ Second
® Public vs private: behavior is strongly dependent on the influence of other persons, tending to make it a rather different kind of process from private behavior
See 9.9 for the resulting behavioral processes including: deliberation, social comparison, repitition, imitation
• distinguish four basic strategies for changing environmental behavior and their underlying assumptions
§ Various strategies for behavior change to reduce environmental impact have been proposed. Most of these strategies can be categorized under two general headings.
First, structural strategies are aimed at changing the context in which decisions are made and behaviors take place, thereby altering the basic nature of a commons dilemma. The positive and/or negative consequences
of behavioral options may be changed, specific behavioral options may be provided or inhibited, or the entire choice setting may be modified.
The effectiveness of structural strategies is based on behavioristic principles, on the assumption that human behavior is strongly dependent on environmental conditions (see Section 9.7.3).
§ Second, informational strategies are aimed at changing individual perceptions, motivations, and preferences, inducing actors to behave in a cooperative (i.e., collectively rational) manner
4 strategies: (see table 9.10)
- provision of physical alternatives
- regulation-and-enforcement
- financial–economic incentives
- information/education/ communication
- or…wait and see
What are some general strategies for behavioral change in managing common resource dilemmas
§ provision of physical alternatives
• The underlying assumption here is that individual behavior is shaped by the physical, technical, and organizational systems in which it takes place.
§ regulation-and-enforcement • The underlying assumption is that laws, regulations, standards and voluntary agreements are eventually internalized under threat of punishment and/or social disapproval. Such strategies imply a need for supervision, monitoring and enforcement. § financial–economic incentives • The basic underlying assumption is that the behavior of individual actors is subject to the workings of the ‘price mechanism’ and that the demand price elasticities involved are reasonably high. § information/education/ communication • This strategy is based on the assumption that the behavior in question is ‘reasoned’ (cf. Table 9.9) and that influencing the cognitive processes underlying behavioral choices will also affect the choices themselves.
Or “wait and see”
apply the three-dimensional policy model, characterizing a given policy along three dimensions:
§ In practice just about every policy, defined as ‘a concrete measure to achieve one or more policy goals’, embodies several of the above strategies simultaneously.
Any given strategy can be characterized along three dimensions
§ directive vs. constitutive policies;
• Directive policies
□ seek to influence behavior directly, through specific instructions, prohibitions or price incentives
• Constitutive policies
□ influence behavior indirectly, by creating the preconditions for specific behavioral changes, through education
§ collective vs. individualized policies • Collective policies □ seek to simultaneously influence many different individuals in different situations. Examples include general legislation, price regulation and mass-media campaigns. • Individualized policies □ seek to change the behavior of specific groups of individuals in particular situations, by means of licenses, levies or advice § push vs. pull strategies • Push □ measures that are restrictive, aiming to make environmentally harmful behavior less attractive, through prohibitions, price rises or ‘discouraging’ information campaigns • Pull □ extend freedom of choice by making environmentally sound behavior more attractive. Examples are subsidies or ‘encouraging’ information campaigns,
use the New Environmental Paradigm (NEP) and the ‘Myths of nature’ model to describe value orientation and general environmental beliefs
§ Value orientation:
• behavior in commons (or social) dilemmas points to four basic ‘social’ orientations towards common resources: altruistic and cooperative (or pro-social), and individualistic and competitive (or pro-self).
* Values can be defined as ‘enduring beliefs of mofes of conduct that are personally or socially preferable to an opposite or converse mode of conduct’ * Research revealed that a variety of human values can be plotted in a two-dimensional space. ® One dimension reflects Conservation (tradition, conformity, security) versus Openness to Change (self-direction, stimulation, hedonism). ® The other dimension represents Self-Transcendence (universalism, benevolence) versus Self-Enhancement (power, achievement). ® Later work has confirmed that environmental beliefs and behavior are especially related to Self-Transcendence. § NEP • The New Environmental Paradigm, or NEP, scale provides a general measure of a person’s environmental concern and stands for his or her general beliefs about the nature of the Earth and humanity’s relationship with it. (see notes for the scale) § Myths of nature • General environmental beliefs may also be associated with the definitions and images of nature people hold. One conception here is a model of ‘Myths of Nature’ seeking to reflect different archetypal views on the vulnerability of nature. Four Myths are distinguished: ® Nature Capricious (nature is unmanageable and inefficacious system, you never know what will happen next and you can't learn anything about it) ® Nature Tolerant (nature is a robust system, but only to a certain point. We must respect the limits set by experts and authorities ® Nature Benign (nature is robust and resilient. Nature is stable, resources abundant, it's okay to take risks)
Nature Ephemeral. (nature is precarious and in a delicate balance, we need to avoid risks or we could upset the balance)
• Section 9.6.1 gives a definition of the commons dilemma. Typical ‘commons’ that are objects of study in the commons dilemma are common pasture land and clean air in urban areas. Mention another example of a commons dilemma and discuss this in terms of the four essential elements of commons dilemmas. How do the key actors respond to this dilemma?
Typical examples of commons are woods, rivers and the fish in the
oceans. The four essential elements (see Section 9.6.1) and stakeholder
responses are discussed below:
Woods:
1 Woods are exploited by hunters, gatherers, loggers etc. They make the
most money if they maximise their removals from the forest.
2 Overexploitation and deforestation may take place, with populations
becoming critically low.
3 If all hunters, gatherers or loggers agreed on maximum exploitation
levels, the forest ecosystem could be sustained.
4 It is unattractive for individuals to limit their removals from the
forest, as others may increase their profits if they do.
Loggers have co-operated with NGOs to introduce the Forest Stewardship
Council label to distinguish sustainable wood from other types of wood.
Governments create forest reserves where hunting and logging are
restricted
Rivers:
1 Rivers are exploited by inhabitants of nearby towns and villages, by
farmers and by industries. They take water from the river to use for
drinking water preparation, irrigation and as process and cooling water,
and discharge waste water into the river. The less this is restricted, the
more they can maximise their use.
2 Actors and ecosystems downstream suffer from polluted waste water
and reduced water flows rates. These actors incur all kinds of costs if the
water needs to be purified before it can be used, or if insufficient water
is available.
3 If the upstream actors treated the waste water properly or used water
more efficiently, total social costs would decrease.
4 For individual upstream actors, however, wastewater treatment or
using water more economically does not make sense, because their
inlets provide plenty of fresh river water.
Governments introduce permit systems or levies on pollutants. They also
install sewage water treatment facilities. Industries also install
wastewater treatment facilities to obtain permits or to avoid levies.
Farmers introduce more effective irrigation methods that save water.
1 Individual fishermen make the most money if they maximise their
catch.
2 This results in overfishing, and fish stocks become critically low.
3 If all fishermen agreed to certain maximum levels of catch, the total
fish stock would increase.
4 For individual fishermen, it is unattractive to limit their catch,
however, as other fishermen are likely to catch more if they limit their
catch.
Fishermen tend to deny or belittle the problem; governments try to limit
catches by imposing quota and limiting the size of fleets, but only to
some extent: biologists are afraid that the measures are insufficient to
prevent overfishing. Consumer organisations and other NGOs introduce a
label that indicates whether fish is caught sustainably.
§
• Section 9.7.1 discusses ‘short-sightedness’ and four different survival dilemmas.
a) What is short-sightedness? How is it related to small-scaledness and what does this mean for the management of common resources?
b) Human short-sightedness can be explained in terms of four different survival dilemmas. Determine for each of the following examples which survival dilemma is involved.
a) Short-sightedness refers to the fact that most people tend to think of
‘here, us and now’ when they take decisions. This may hamper longterm
problem awareness, strategic planning and policy decision-making.
It explains why it is easier to co-operate when the group of people is
small and there is a strong identification with the group. Hence ‘small is
beautiful’.
b) I This is the opposite of what is known as the temporal dilemma
II This is an example of the benefit–risk dilemma
III This is an example of the social survival dilemma, though it could also
be argued that it is an example of a spatial survival dilemma
IV This is an example of the spatial survival dilemma, though it could also
be argued that this is an example of the social survival dilemma
• A Ministry of Energy wants to promote the use of solar energy. Suppose it adopted the NOA (Needs, Opportunities, Abilities) model (see Section 9.7.2); what strategy would it adopt to change energy consumption?
a Explaining the advantages of solar energy in newspapers, concluding covenants with solar panel manufacturers and increasing taxes on fossil energy. b Introducing energy labels and corresponding tax regimes for new homes; explaining the features of solar energy in magazines and on TV and concluding covenants with solar panel manufacturers. c Explaining the savings (and gains) potential of solar energy, offering a premium on installing solar panels to consumers and a guaranteed price for delivering solar energy to the national grid, making sure people can order solar panels and have them installed quickly and conveniently.
C
• The ‘Myths of Nature’ model (9.9.1) reflects archetypal views on the vulnerability of nature. Note that this is only an analytical model: many people will associate themselves with a combination of ‘myths’ rather than with one particular ‘myth’. Nevertheless, it is a useful model to distinguish between people’s values and their corresponding attitudes towards environmental problems and reactions to policy measures.
a) Egalitarians use the claim that nature is fragile to justify equal sharing of what they see as a single, finite earth. To them, nature represents a precarious and delicate balance. What is the name of the corresponding ‘Myth of Nature’?
b) Individualists strive for freedom and are opposed to collective resource management. Nature is seen by them as a stable and global equilibrium. What is the name of the corresponding ‘Myth of Nature’?
c) Hierarchists believe that authorities should control common resources and that experts are the ones to decide where the limits are. Nature to them is a robust system, which is reasonably understood by the experts. What is the name of the corresponding ‘Myth of Nature’?
d) Fatalists see nature as an unpredictable and unmanageable system. It is no use to try and control resources or needs, because one can never know what will happen anyway. What is the name of the corresponding ‘Myth of Nature’?
e) The following statements are among the fifteen that are included in the New Environmental Paradigm (NEP) scale. (1) Human ingenuity will ensure that we do not make the earth inhabitable. (2) Humans were meant to rule the rest of nature. To what ‘Myth of Nature’ do these two beliefs particularly refer?
a) nature ephemeral
b) nature benign
c) nature tolerant
d) nature capricious
e) nature tolerant
• Table 9.10 shows five different general strategies for behavioral change in managing resource dilemmas. Provide two examples of each strategy that deal with the reduction of fossil fuel use.
1 Provision of physical alternatives. In this case, this concerns
‘technical fix’ solutions such as provision of public transport and
efficient heating systems.
2 Regulation and enforcement. Regulation concerns laws, permits and
specific agreements. Examples include covenants with industrial sectors
and the obligation to mix biofuels into gasoline and diesel.
3 Financial-economic incentives. The market mechanism is applied to
induce behavioural change. Examples are fuel taxes, road taxes
depending on fuel consumption by cars, CO2 emissions trading, and
subsidies for renewable energy systems (solar, wind).
4 Information, education, communication. This strategy aims to inform
consumers and producers by means of education and awareness
programmes. Examples are energy labels on cars, appliances and
houses, and awareness campaigns on TV.
5 Wait and see. This means that no decision is made and developments
are monitored in the hope that the problem will solve itself. Examples
are decision-making (or the lack of it) regarding nuclear energy and
phasing out coal.
What are the psychological factors influencing co-operation or defection in commons dillemmas
□ psychological factors affecting cooperation
® What we are interested in is the personal characteristics that vary amongst individuals
® Factors that influence cooperation
◊ Problem awareness and insight into the process of collective resources
◊ A feeling of co-responsibility
◊ People’s tendency to compare their own behavior with that of others (not wanting to stand out or not wanting to feel like a sucker because free-riders are taking advantage)
◊ Their personality i.e. their social value orientation
} altruistic people tend to maximize others’ gains;
} cooperative people are inclined to maximize behavioral outcomes for both themselves and relevant others,
} individualists simply maximize their own outcomes (whether or not this suits others’ interests)
} competitive people tend to maximize the difference between their own and other people’s outcomes: in other words, they are keen to have the most, biggest or best of all.
