Download - Dean Seminar2008 Enviro
The Role of (Human) Nature on Environmental Action
Michelle VergesIndiana University, South Bend
I Couldn’t Have Done it Without You
• Dean Lynn Williams• Department of Psychology, IUSB• Sara Unsworth, San Diego State University• Sean Duffy, Rutgers University• That’s right - You!
The Bag Lady
APS (May, 2007)
Is there a relationship between environmental attitudes and
sustainable behaviors?
Think of nature…
Connection to Nature
• Like bears, humans are part of nature.• We evolved and have spent 99% of human
history as hunter gatherers in natural environments
• It would be surprising if humans were not intimately connected to nature
• But what does it mean to be connected to nature?
Connection to Nature• One school of thought: Connection to nature
mediates pro-environmental behavior and action (Schultz, Mayer & Franz)
• Developed an implicit association task (IAT) that measures connection with nature.
• IAT measures implicit attitudes – those that one cannot (or choose not) to verbalize.
• For instance, do you believe that men make better doctors and women make better secretaries?
Women
Men
On the next several slides you will see typical male and female
names. If the name is female, tap your left hand on the desk. If the
name is male, tap your right hand on the desk .
Women
Men
John
Women
Men
Robert
Women
Men
Jane
Women
Men
Michael
Women
Men
Jennifer
Women
Men
Mary
Women
Men
Karen
Women
Men
Bill
Women
Men
Thomas
Women
Men
Kate
Career
Family
On the next several slides you will see typical career and family roles. If the word is career, tap
your left hand on the desk. If the word is home, tap your right
hand on the desk.
Career
Family
management
Career
Family
relatives
Career
Family
professional
Career
Family
corporation
Career
Family
marriage
Career
Family
children
Career
Family
career
Career
Family
parents
Career
Family
salary
Career
Family
home
Career
Family
office
Career
Family
business
Career
Family
family
Career
Family
wedding
Block A
Careeror
Male
Family or
Female
On the next several slides you will see typical career and family roles, as well as names. Please categorize as you did before.
management
Careeror
Male
Family or
Female
children
Careeror
Male
Family or
Female
John
Careeror
Male
Family or
Female
Michael
Careeror
Male
Family or
Female
relatives
Careeror
Male
Family or
Female
office
Careeror
Male
Family or
Female
Karen
Careeror
Male
Family or
Female
corporation
Careeror
Male
Family or
Female
marriage
Careeror
Male
Family or
Female
Mary
Careeror
Male
Family or
Female
parents
Careeror
Male
Family or
Female
career
Careeror
Male
Family or
Female
Jennifer
Careeror
Male
Family or
Female
salary
Careeror
Male
Family or
Female
professional
Careeror
Male
Family or
Female
business
Careeror
Male
Family or
Female
Bill
Careeror
Male
Family or
Female
family
Careeror
Male
Family or
Female
Jane
Careeror
Male
Family or
Female
home
Careeror
Male
Family or
Female
Robert
Careeror
Male
Family or
Female
Kate
Careeror
Male
Family or
Female
wedding
Careeror
Male
Family or
Female
Thomas
Careeror
Male
Family or
Female
Block B
Careeror
Female
Family or
Male
On the next several slides you will see typical career and family roles, as well as names. Please categorize as you did before
management
Family or
Male
Careeror
Female
children
Careeror
Female
Family or
Male
John
Careeror
Female
Family or
Male
Michael
Careeror
Female
Family or
Male
relatives
Careeror
Female
Family or
Male
office
Careeror
Female
Family or
Male
Karen
Careeror
Female
Family or
Male
corporation
Careeror
Female
Family or
Male
marriage
Careeror
Female
Family or
Male
Mary
Careeror
Female
Family or
Male
parents
Careeror
Female
Family or
Male
career
Careeror
Female
Family or
Male
Jennifer
Careeror
Female
Family or
Male
salary
Careeror
Female
Family or
Male
professional
Careeror
Female
Family or
Male
business
Careeror
Female
Family or
Male
Bill
Careeror
Female
Family or
Male
family
Careeror
Female
Family or
Male
Jane
Careeror
Female
Family or
Male
home
Careeror
Female
Family or
Male
Robert
Careeror
Female
Family or
Male
Kate
Careeror
Female
Family or
Male
wedding
Careeror
Female
Family or
Male
Thomas
Careeror
Female
Family or
Male
Which was easier?• Block A or Block B?
• For most people – even those who say they believe in equal working rights, block A is easier than Block B.
Implicit connection to nature• Schultz et al. (2004) developed a
‘connection to nature IAT’
• Relative speed of categorizing SELF (I, me my, mine, myself) and NOT ME (it, they, them, their, other) with NATURE and BUILT words
• Found people overwhelmingly connected to nature
Connection to Nature IAT
• If people have a “primitive” belief that favors nature over the built environment, then stimulus valence should have no effect on people’s implicit connections to nature.
• We hypothesized, however, that emotional connotations derived from words influence people’s connection to nature.
Original Items• NATURE: animals, birds,
plants, whales, trees
• BUILT: building, car, city, factory, street
New Test Items• NATURE: beach, dove, fish,
flower, river; bees, fungus, manure, snake, thorn
• BUILT: bed, clothing, house, toy, trophy; bullet, cellar, coffin, needle, tomb
Undergraduates from Rutgers University participated in one of three IAT experiments:
1 - Connection to nature IAT using original stimulus items2 - IAT using positive nature and negative built items3 - IAT using negative nature and positive built items
-200
-150
-100
-50
0
50
100
150
200
StandardNature IAT
PositiveNature IAT
NegativeNature IAT
Stronger connectionto nature
Stronger connection
to built
Results
(Verges & Duffy, in press, Environment and Behavior)
• Methodological point: Able to replicate prior findings regarding people’s implicit connections with nature
• Extended those findings to reveal a tendency to implicitly associate oneself to positive aspects of the built and natural environments
• Contextual information may be a factor when considering people’s association with nature…
Oh, the weather outside is frightful!
• If valence moderates implicit connection with nature, might emotional associations of nature influence connectedness as well?
• In temperate climates, it is COLD during the winter, and mild during autumn and spring.
• Spring is known for its pastel of flowers,
autumn for its golden leaves, winter for its grayish browns?
Oh, the weather outside is frightful!
• People spend time in nature during spring and autumn, but less so in winter.
• In winter people are protected from nature by coats that try to keep nature at bay.
• Might there be seasonal and meteorological variations regarding connection to nature?
• To test this, we ran the Schultz et al. (2004) from October to April, keeping track of weather and precipitation.
-0.8
-0.6
-0.4
-0.2
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
Autumn Winter Spring
z-sc
ore
CN IATAltruistic Concern
Biospheric ConcernEgocentric Concern
Kaiser/Wilson
Stronger connection with nature
Stronger connection with built
(Duffy & Verges, under review, Journal of Environmental Psychology)
-0.5
-0.4
-0.3
-0.2
-0.1
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
Rain No Rain
z s
co
re
CN IAT
Altruistic Concern
Biospheric Concern
Egoistic Concern
Kaiser/Wilson
Stronger connection with nature
Stronger connection with built
(Duffy & Verges, under review, Journal of Environmental Psychology)
• Stronger evidence for contextual factors and connectedness with nature
• In layman’s terms, people seem to be “fair-weather friends” regarding their association with nature
• Findings bear implications regarding current views on connectedness with nature. But do these findings have anything to say about conservation behaviors?
Without bribing, forcing, telling, or relying on spurious emotions, how can we reliably improvepro-environmental behaviors?
Started noticing a pattern...
Started noticing a pattern...
Control condition
Experimental condition
Results
(Duffy & Verges, in press, Environment and Behavior)
Results
• The design of the environment profoundly shapes behavior
• Not just limited to recycling...we can design environments that may afford myriad behaviors (i.e., streets that afford not getting lost, buildings that afford efficient work...)
• It is hard to change people’s attitudes or beliefs, but one can tacitly affect behavior by building better environments.
Thank You!
