ABSTRACT
In economically highly developed countries, many of the conditions that would allow people to behave in environmentally responsible ways are already in place. We have a lot of knowledge; for years surveys have shown that people give top priority to the need to act on environmental issues. The necessary technical and economic resources are also available. But there is little sign of a real about-face except in limited areas. We believe that the much-cited discrepancy between cognition and behaviour, between lip service and a person’s own contribution to conserving the environment, can be better understood if we also take people’s perceptions of the social surround into consideration. To view human beings as Homo economicus (Diekmann 1996; Harsanyi 1977) falls short, because the economic man approach does not explicitly take into account inner psychological factors, such as motives, values, norms and attitudes, nor does it consider social influences on a person’s behaviour. The present research conceives a model of behaviour that in addition to economic factors includes personal and social factors. Environmental consciousness is determined to a significant degree by social systems, or in other words, by people’s corresponding social representations. An individual’s personal contribution seems insignificant in the face of massive destruction of the environment caused by many. This perception – that there is nothing we can do personally, that each one of us is powerless – as well as a reluctance to be the ‘sucker’, are important causal factors in behaviours that overuse environmental resources. It does not seem rational to exercise personal restraint (for example, by not driving), because not only will we suffer from the harm caused by the general public’s overuse (the consequences of air pollution), but from a reduction in our own direct return as well (time saved, comfort). However, as this state of affairs applies equally to all individuals in a society overusing environmental resources, people mutually trap each other in patterns of actions that harm the environment. It is for this reason that we are particularly interested in examining the psychological conditions that would form the basis of a collective reorientation towards environmentally sustainable behaviour. Starting out from new environmentally friendly behaviours of some ‘pioneer’ individuals, we wish to discover the social psychological conditions that would ensure that the number of persons joining ranks with
such pioneers would continue to automatically increase and result in a true, largescale ‘turn-around’ of previous, environmentally harmful patterns of behaviour. The focal question of our research can thus be framed as follows: what are the conditions that foster widespread, effective inner dynamics that change collective environmental overuse (in thinking and action) to collective, environmentally responsible thinking and acting? Findings generated by this research will lend scientific support to the planning of environmental protection campaigns.
