A behavioral model to study decision-making involved in climate action

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1590/0103-6564e240099

Keywords:

behavioral sciences, environmental psychology, empirical methods

Abstract

The United Nations’ 2030 Agenda emphasizes the need for actions that mitigate climate change effects and assist populations in adapting to the impact of extreme climate events. Emerging countries such as Brazil still require psychological studies on climate actions. This study aims to defend a research agenda that aids researchers, professionals, and policy decision-makers finding possibly relevant variables in the study of the relationship between climate change and behavior. Given the need of finding behavioral profiles susceptible to interventions or to the impact of extreme climate events, concepts from different psychological fields constitute potential psychological moderators of the relationship between climate change and behavior. The end of this study offers a differential susceptibility hypothesis as a method to find relevant moderators in the Brazilian study of climate actions.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

  • Gibson Weydmann, Universidade Fedral do Rio Grande do Sul

    Universidade Fedral do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, RS, Brasil. Universidade La Salle, Canoas, RS, Brasil.

  • Camila Bolzan de Campos, Universidade La Salle

    Universidade La Salle, Canoas, RS, Brasil.

  • Isadora Milan Presa, Universidade La Salle

    Universidade La Salle, Canoas, RS, Brasil.

  • Lisiane Bizarro, Universidade Fedral do Rio Grande do Sul

    Universidade Fedral do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, RS, Brasil.

References

Belsky, J. (1997). Variation in susceptibility to environmental influence: an evolutionary argument. Psychological Inquiry, 8(3), 182-186. doi: 10.1207/s15327965pli0803_3

Biddlestone, M., Azevedo, F., & van der Linden, S. (2022). Climate of conspiracy: a meta-analysis of the consequences of belief in conspiracy theories about climate change. Current Opinion in Psychology, 46, 101390. doi: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2022.101390

Bijttebier, P., Beck, I., Claes, L., & Vandereycken, W. (2009). Gray’s Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory as a framework for research on personality-psychopathology associations. Clinical Psychology Review, 29(5), 421-430. doi: 10.1016/j.cpr.2009.04.002

Bonanno, G. A., & Burton, C. L. (2013). Regulatory flexibility: an individual differences perspective on coping and emotion regulation. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 8(6), 591-612. doi: 10.1177/1745691613504116

Campos, C. B. (2008). Sistema de gestión ambiental y comportamiento proambiental de trabajadores fuera de la empresa: aproximación de una amuestra brasileña. [Tese de Doutorado em Psicología Social, Universidad de Barcelona, Espanha]. Recuperado de https://www.tdx.cat/handle/10803/2675

Clayton, S. (2020). Climate anxiety: psychological responses to climate change. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 74, 102263. doi: 10.1016/j.janxdis.2020.102263

Clayton, S., & Karazsia, B. T. (2020). Development and validation of a measure of climate change anxiety. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 69(2), 101434. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvp.2020.101434

Conroy, G. (2019, 3 de janeiro). An unpalatable message about the climate’s point of no return. Nature Index. Recuperado de https://www.nature.com/nature-index/news/an-unpalatable-message-about-the-climates-point-of-no-return

Corral-Verdugo, V. (2001). Comportamiento proambiental: una introducción al estudio de las conductas protectoras del ambiente. Santa Cruz de Tenerife: Editorial Resma.

Corral-Verdugo, V. (2021). Psychology of climate change (Psicología del cambio climático). PsyEcology, 12(2), 254-282. doi: 10.1080/21711976.2021.1901188

Cuijpers, P., Miguel, C., Ciharova, M., Kumar, M., Brander, L., Kumar, P., & Karyotaki, E. (2023). Impact of climate events, pollution, and green spaces on mental health: an umbrella review of meta-analyses. Psychological Medicine, 53(3), 638-653. doi: 10.1017/S0033291722003890

Duan, R., Zwickle, A., & Takahashi, B. (2022) Refining the application of Construal Level theory: egocentric and nonegocentric psychological distances in climate change visual communication. Environmental Communication, 16(1), 92-107. doi: 10.1080/17524032.2021.1964999

Ellis, B. J., Boyce, W. T., Belsky, J., Bakermans-Kranenburg, M. J., & van Ijzendoorn, M. H. (2011). Differential susceptibility to the environment: an evolutionary--neurodevelopmental theory. Development and Psychopathology, 23(1), 7-28. doi: 10.1017/S0954579410000611

Eom, K., Saad, C. S., & Kim, H. S. (2021). Religiosity moderates the link between environmental beliefs and pro-environmental support: the role of belief in a controlling God. Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin, 47(6), 891-905. doi: 10.1177/0146167220948712

Ersche, K. D., Lim, T. V., Ward, L. H., Robbins, T. W., & Stochl, J. (2017). Creature of Habit: a self-report measure of habitual routines and automatic tendencies in everyday life. Personality and Individual Differences, 116, 73-85. doi: 10.1016/j.paid.2017.04.024

Gifford, R. (2014). Environmental psychology matters. Annual Review of Psychology, 65, 541-579. doi: 10.1146/annurev-psych-010213-115048

Gray, J. A., & McNaughton, N. (2000). The neuropsychology of anxiety: an enquiry into the septo-hippocampal system (2nd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Hurst, M., Dittmar, H., Bond, R., & Kasser, T. (2013). The relationship between materialistic values and environmental attitudes and behaviors: a meta-analysis. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 36, 257-269. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvp.2013.09.003

Leue, A., & Beauducel, A. (2008). A meta-analysis of Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory: on performance parameters in reinforcement tasks. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 12(4), 353-369. doi: 10.1177/1088868308316891

Joslyn, S., & Demnitz, R. (2021). Explaining how long CO₂ stays in the atmosphere: does it change attitudes toward climate change? Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 27(3), 473-484. doi: 10.1037/xap0000347

Katz, B. A., Matanky, K., Aviram, G., & Yovel, I. (2020). Reinforcement sensitivity, depression and anxiety: a meta-analysis and meta-analytic structural equation model. Clinical Psychology Review, 77, 101842. doi: 10.1016/j.cpr.2020.101842

Kehyayan, A., Wright, P., Marks, J., Matura, J. M., Axmacher, N., Herpertz, S., & Kessler, H. (2023). The influence of the behavioural inhibition system on the development of PTSD-like symptoms after presentation of a traumatic film in healthy subjects. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 14(2), 2172258. doi: 10.1080/20008066.2023.2172258

Kim, H., Schnall, S., & White, M. P. (2013). Similar psychological distance reduces temporal discounting. Personality & social psychology bulletin, 39(8), 1005-1016. doi: 10.1177/0146167213488214

Krebs, R. M., Prével, A., Hall, J. M., & Hoofs, V. (2023). Think green: investing cognitive effort for a pro-environmental cause. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 85, 101946. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvp.2022.101946

Lange, F., & Dewitte, S. (2019). Cognitive flexibility and pro‐environmental behaviour: a multimethod approach. European Journal of Personality, 33(4), 488-505. doi: 10.1002/per.2204

Lange, F., & Truyens, M. (2022). Mixed evidence for the effect of virtual nature exposure on effortful pro-environmental behavior. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 81, e101803. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvp.2022.101803

Loose, E. B., & Carvalho, A. (2023). Public communication and perceptions of climate change in Brazil. In: Z. Baker, T. Law, M. Vardy, & S. Zehr (Eds.). Climate, science and society - a primer (pp. 84-96). Londres: Routledge. Recuperado de https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/oa-edit/10.4324/9781003409748-10/public-communication-perceptions-climate-change-brazil-eloisa-beling-loose-anabela-carvalho

Lou, X., & Li, L. M. W. (2021). The relationship between identity and environmental concern: a meta-analysis. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 76, e101653. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvp.2021.101653

Mertens, E. C. A., Deković, M., Van Londen, M., & Reitz, E. (2022). Personality as a moderator of intervention effects: examining differential susceptibility. Personality and Individual Differences, 186(A), 111323. doi: 10.1016/j.paid.2021.111323

Papini, M. R. (2002). Pattern and process in the evolution of learning. Psychological Review, 109(1), 186-201. doi: 10.1037/0033-295x.109.1.186

Pato, C. M. L., & Tamayo, Á. (2006). A Escala de Comportamento Ecológico: desenvolvimento e validação de um instrumento de medida. Estudos de Psicologia (Natal), 11(3), 289-296. doi: 10.1590/S1413-294X2006000300006

Pickering, G. J., & Dale, G. (2023). Trait anxiety predicts pro-environmental values and climate change action. Personality and Individual Differences, 205, e112101. doi: 10.1016/j.paid.2023.112101

Robbins, T. W., & Costa, R. M. (2017). Habits. Current Biology, 27(22), R1200-R1206. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2017.09.060

Romanello, M., Napoli, C. D., Green, C., Kennard, H., Lampard, P., Scamman, D., …Costello, A. (2023). The 2023 report of the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change: the imperative for a health-centred response in a world facing irreversible harms. Lancet, 402(10419), 2346-2394. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(23)01859-7

Trope, Y., & Liberman, N. (2010). Construal-level theory of psychological distance. Psychological Review, 117(2), 440-463. doi: https://doi.org/10.1037/a0018963

van Lange, P. A. M., & Huckelba, A. L. (2021). Psychological distance: how to make climate change less abstract and closer to the self. Current Opinion in Psychology, 42, 49-53. doi: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2021.03.011

Verplanken, B., & Roy, D. (2016). Empowering interventions to promote sustainable lifestyles: testing the habit discontinuity hypothesis in a field experiment. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 45, 127-134. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvp.2015.11.008

Vlasceanu, M., Doell, K. C., Bak-Coleman, J. B., Todorova, B., Berkebile-Weinberg, M. M., Grayson, S. J., …Van Bavel, J. J. (2024). Addressing climate change with behavioral science: a global intervention tournament in 63 countries. Science Advances, 10(6), eadj5778. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adj5778

Watts, N., Amann, M., Ayeb-Karlsson, S., Belesova, K., Bouley, T., Boykoff, M., …Costello, A. (2018). The Lancet Countdown on health and climate change: from 25 years of inaction to a global transformation for public health. Lancet, 391(10120), 581-630. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(17)32464-9

Weydmann, G., Cauduro, G. N., Hauck Filho, N., & Bizarro, L. (2021). Teoria da Sensibilidade ao Reforçamento: pressupostos, procedimentos e medidas. Psicologia: Teoria e Pesquisa, 37, e37218. doi: 10.1590/0102.3772e37218

Wood, W., & Rünger, D. (2016). Psychology of habit. Annual Review of Psychology, 67, 289-314. doi: 10.1146/annurev-psych-122414-033417

Published

2025-09-02

Issue

Section

Dossiê Psicologia e mudança climática

How to Cite

A behavioral model to study decision-making involved in climate action. (2025). Psicologia USP, 36, e240099. https://doi.org/10.1590/0103-6564e240099