Publication details

Seeing past the tip of your own nose? How outward and self-centred orientations could contribute to closing the green gap despite helplessness

Authors

ADAMUS Magdalena ŠROL Jakub KURINCOVÁ ČAVOJOVÁ Vladimíra BALLOVÁ MIKUŠKOVÁ Eva

Year of publication 2023
Type Article in Periodical
Magazine / Source BMC Psychology
MU Faculty or unit

Faculty of Economics and Administration

Citation
Web https://bmcpsychology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40359-023-01128-z
Doi http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s40359-023-01128-z
Keywords Environmental concern; Pro-environmenal behaviour; Green gap; Collectivism-individualism; Future orientation; Prosocial tendencies; Helplessness
Attached files
Description Background The present study explored moderators of the relation between environmental concerns and pro-envi- ronmental behaviour that could help close the green gap. Methods A sample of 500 individuals (250 women) participated in the study. Apart from socio-demographic char- acteristics, participants answered questions about their environmental concerns and pro-environmental behaviour, collectivism and individualism, time orientation and emotional responses to climate change. Results Our results corroborate the view that collectivism, future orientation and prosocial tendencies may form a single component of outward orientation, while individualism and immediate orientation form self-centred ori- entation. Generally, outwardly oriented individuals and those less self-centred reported more pro-environmental behaviour. However, strongly self-centred individuals, even when reporting elevated helplessness, showed increased involvement in pro-environmental behaviour once their concerns were high. Conclusions The study contributes to the literature by pointing out that both outward and self-centred orientations have the potential to insulate individuals against the negative effect helplessness may have on pro-environmental behaviour. This could inform strategies that would both prompt individuals already concerned to act and arouse more concern among those who are not yet preoccupied with climate change.

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