Evolutionary Psychology & Climate Change Flashcards
climate change effects
-climate change can have harmful health, environmental, and social consequences.
-however, it is possible to reduce the impacts by engaging in sustainable actions.
pro-environmental attitude-behaviour gap
gap between the concern about climate change, and actually engaging in sustainable behaviour (e.g., carpooling, moderate meat consumption, renewable energy sources, buying eco-friendly products, etc.)
proximate motivations
a lot of the research done has been on proximate motivations;
-environmental values
-social norms
-monetary incentives
*proximate motivations: current or immediate motivation (e.g., immediate reasons like convenience or cost, that prevent people from engaging in sustainable actions.
ancestral motivations
-ancestral motives are less studied
-benefit of studying such motives:
information learned can be used to determine new types of helpful interventions (to try to nudge others to behave in a more sustainable manner).
motives for environmental behaviour: 1) self-interest
def: the idea that individuals put their own outcomes above others and prioritize one’s self.
-this can be harmful in trying to mitigate (reduce effects of) climate change.
-if we want people to cut down on carbon emissions, trying to tap into that self-interest can be effective.
-emphasis on self-interests such as health related or genetic; has resulted in reduced idling for example.
motives for environmental behaviour: self-interest & inclusive fitness theory (definition)
inclusive fitness theory aka kin selection theory: people may be more inclined to engage in sustainable behaviours if they believe these actions will benefit their offspring and future generations.
-goal is to have their genes survive & replicate.
motives for environmental behaviour: self-interest & inclusive fitness theory (application)
-if we want people to act in a pro-environmental way, it can be done by putting their long term genetic interests at the forefront.
-when negative consequences of climate change on a person’s children get stressed, it results in increased pro-environmental intentions.
motives for environmental behaviour: 2) status & costly signalling theory (definitions)
-status: humans can be driven to attain a higher rank socially, and this can be linked to evolutionary benefits (attracting mates).
-costly signalling theory: costly traits (in this case: status) developed to signal underlying qualities to potential partners.
motives for environmental behaviour: status & costly signalling theory (application)
-individuals can boost and display status by behaving sustainably.
-promotes desire to “keep up with environmentalists”
-consuming sustainable products can cause others to see you in positive light, socially and romantically.
-people are more likely to engage in pro-environmental behaviours if they are done publicly or being observed (e.g., people donate more to environmental charities when actions are done publicly).
motives for environmental behaviour: 3) sensing & evolutionary mismatch theory (definitions)
-sensing: sensing climate change dangers.
-evolutionary mismatch theory: dangers of climate change feel so distant because the effects are slow-moving, which fails to activate immediate self-protection response.
motives for environmental behaviour: sensing & evolutionary mismatch theory (application)
if we want people to overcome this mismatch: offer immediate cues that can be detected via primary sensory mechanisms.
example 1: visualization of thermal energy; increases the willingness to engage in energy saving behaviours.
example 2: simply smelling cleaning products in trains has resulted in less littering behaviour.
motives for environmental behaviour: sensing & evolutionary mismatch theory - modifying eating habits
-another immediate cue that can be triggered is disgust.
-this can nudge people to modify their unsustainable eating habits.
-when meat products are paired with threats such as pathogens, attitudes toward meat consumption can be shifted.
-downside: disgust can stand in the way of accepting things like lab grown meats or edible insects (partly due to unnaturalness), which are more sustainable.
motives for environmental behaviour: 4) myopia & temporal discounting (definitions)
myopia: the sense that climate change feels too far away.
temporal discounting: people have a preference for immediate rewards over distant or uncertain ones.
-research has shown that if an issue is phrased as occurring later in time, or if there’s uncertainty if it will even happen, people are less concerned.
motives for environmental behaviour: myopia & temporal discounting (application)
-temporal discounting can be reduced by having regular exposure to nature.
-e.g,. seeing images of clear environments, living in an area with a lot of green space, and exposure to nature can cause a shift to prefer to wait longer to experience good air quality.
motives for environmental behaviour: 5) social imitation & descriptive social norms (definitions)
social imitation: adaptations to copy and learn from others might’ve given humans evolutionary advantages.
descriptive social norms: a social norm based on what most other people are doing. (e.g., at a wedding, a descriptive norm would be to wear something that does not take attention away from the bride).
