12 4 individual differences

Summary

The video script delves into the factors influencing sustainable behavior, highlighting the New Ecological Paradigm questionnaire's role in assessing attitudes. It emphasizes the importance of ecological literacy, the 'big five' personality traits—especially openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness—gender differences, and the impact of education and occupation. Furthermore, it underscores the significance of political beliefs, religiousness, and materialism, as well as the correlation between locus of control and sustainable actions.

Takeaways

• 📊 Research on sustainable behavior is conducted through three main methods: publicly available data, experimental research, and questionnaires like the New Ecological Paradigm.
• 📝 The New Ecological Paradigm questionnaire assesses agreement with statements about environmental limits and rights of nature, serving as a reliable measure of ecological views.
• 🤔 Knowledge plays a key role in sustainable behavior; more ecological literacy leads to more sustainable personal choices.
• 🌟 Personality traits, particularly the 'big five' (extraversion, agreeableness, openness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism), influence environmental-friendly behavior.
• 👩‍💼 Women tend to be more concerned with environmental issues and can significantly impact sustainability in organizational and banking leadership roles.
• 🎓 Education level and type of work influence attitudes and behaviors towards sustainability, with higher education correlating with eco-friendly actions.
• 📚 Attitudes and opinions are more predictive of sustainable behavior in the highly educated, while lower educated individuals are more influenced by social norms.
• 🏛 Beliefs and values, including political affiliation, are strong predictors of environmental behavior, especially in the USA where eco-friendliness has diverged between political parties over time.
• 🙏 Religiousness is negatively correlated with sustainable behavior in the USA, though more research is needed to understand its impact in Europe.
• 💰 Materialism is inversely related to sustainable behavior, suggesting that those less focused on material possessions may be more inclined towards sustainability.
• 🎯 An external locus of control, where individuals attribute outcomes to external factors rather than personal effort, is linked to less sustainable behavior.

Q & A

What are the three main types of studies that form the basis of research on interindividual differences in sustainable behavior?

The three main types of studies are publicly available information such as water use, recycling, and electricity figures; experimental research; and questionnaires.

What is the New Ecological Paradigm and how is it used in research?

The New Ecological Paradigm is a questionnaire developed by Riley Dunlap and colleagues. It presents statements with a rating scale to measure the extent to which a person agrees with these statements, and it is used to assess attitudes towards environmental conservation and sustainability.

How does the New Ecological Paradigm questionnaire predict opinions and behavior intentions?

The questionnaire has been shown to be a reliable measurement instrument. It predicts opinions about conservation and sustainability and also behavior intentions across different cultures.

What are the three personality traits from the 'big five' that correlate with environment-friendly behavior?

The three personality traits from the 'big five' that correlate with environment-friendly behavior are openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness.

Why are women generally more concerned about the environment and nature than men?

Women are more concerned about the environment and nature than men because studies have shown that attention to sustainability increases with the presence of even a single woman in an executive committee, and female CEOs have a significant influence on sustainability in decision-making.

How does education influence sustainable behavior?

Education influences sustainable behavior as attitudes and opinions of the highly educated determine their behavior towards environmental actions like recycling or donating to environmental organizations, whereas the lower educated are less influenced by their attitudes and more by what others do.

What is the role of political affiliation in predicting global warming-related behavior in the USA?

In the USA, political affiliation is a better predictor of global warming-related behavior than education and scientific knowledge. There has been a significant shift over time, with eco-friendliness being notably lower among republicans compared to democrats in recent years.

How do beliefs and values affect sustainable behavior?

Beliefs and values significantly affect sustainable behavior. For instance, in the USA, political beliefs can be more predictive of environmental actions than education levels or scientific knowledge. Additionally, there is a negative correlation between materialism and sustainable behavior.

What is the correlation between religiousness and sustainable behavior in the USA?

In the USA, there is a positive correlation between religiousness and sustainable behavior, although the speaker is not aware of similar studies conducted in Europe.

How does the locus of control affect sustainable behavior?

People with an external locus of control, who attribute successes and failures to luck or chance, display less sustainable behavior compared to those with an internal locus of control who believe in their own efforts.

What is the significance of the 'big five' personality traits in understanding individual differences in sustainable behavior?

The 'big five' personality traits are significant because they help to describe an individual's personality accurately, and among them, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness are particularly relevant to understanding environment-friendly behavior.

Outlines

00:00

🌿 Understanding Sustainable Behavior through Research

This paragraph delves into the various methods used to study interindividual differences in sustainable behavior, including publicly available data, experimental research, and questionnaires. It highlights the New Ecological Paradigm questionnaire developed by Riley Dunlap and colleagues, which measures agreement with statements related to environmental sustainability. The paragraph also discusses the reliability of this tool in predicting opinions and behavior intentions across cultures, and identifies key factors that correlate with sustainable behavior, such as ecological literacy, personality traits (especially openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness), gender differences with women showing more concern for the environment, and the influence of education and work type on attitudes and behaviors.

Keywords

💡Interindividual differences

Interindividual differences refer to the variations in behavior, characteristics, or traits between different individuals. In the context of the video, it highlights how people's sustainable behaviors can vary significantly from one person to another. The script discusses this concept by examining various factors that contribute to these differences, such as knowledge, personality traits, gender, education, and beliefs.

💡New Ecological Paradigm

The New Ecological Paradism is a questionnaire developed by Riley Dunlap and colleagues to measure an individual's agreement with certain environmental statements. It serves as a reliable tool in the video's narrative to predict opinions on conservation and sustainability, as well as behavior intentions across different cultures. The script uses this questionnaire to illustrate how attitudes towards the environment can be systematically assessed.

💡Ecologically literate

Ecological literacy is the understanding and knowledge of ecological principles and the ability to apply them to make informed decisions. The video emphasizes that the more ecologically literate a person is, the more inclined they are to make sustainable choices in their personal life, which directly relates to the theme of sustainable behavior.

💡Big Five personality traits

The Big Five personality traits, also known as the Five-Factor Model, are a widely accepted framework in psychology to describe human personality. The traits include extraversion, agreeableness, openness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism. The video script points out that three of these traits—openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness—correlate with environmentally friendly behavior.

💡Conscientiousness

Conscientiousness is one of the Big Five personality traits that reflects an individual's level of organization, responsibility, and reliability. In the video, it is specifically linked to future-sensitiveness, suggesting that conscientious individuals are more likely to engage in sustainable behaviors due to their consideration of long-term consequences.

💡Gender differences

The script discusses gender differences in environmental concern, noting that women are generally more concerned about the environment and nature than men. It provides an example of how the presence of women in executive committees can increase attention to sustainability, which is a key point in the video's exploration of factors influencing sustainable behavior.

💡Education

Education is highlighted in the video as a significant factor that influences attitudes and behaviors towards the environment. It is noted that highly educated individuals are more likely to have attitudes and opinions that determine their environmentally friendly behaviors, unlike the lower educated, who may be less influenced by their attitudes and more by social norms.

💡Political affiliation

Political affiliation is presented as a strong predictor of global warming-related behavior in the United States, even more so than education and scientific knowledge. The video script provides a historical comparison showing the shift in eco-friendliness between Republicans and Democrats over the past three decades, illustrating the impact of political beliefs on sustainable behavior.

💡Religiousness

Religiousness is mentioned as a factor that correlates with sustainable behavior, specifically in the context of the United States. The video suggests that religious individuals may have different attitudes towards the environment, although the script notes a lack of European studies on this topic, indicating a potential area for further research.

💡Materialism

Materialism is discussed in the video as having a negative correlation with sustainable behavior. It implies that individuals who place a high value on material possessions and wealth may be less inclined to engage in sustainable practices, which is an important consideration in understanding the barriers to sustainable living.

💡Locus of control

Locus of control refers to the extent to which individuals believe they have control over the outcome of events in their lives. The video script contrasts external locus of control, where success and failure are attributed to luck or chance, with internal locus of control, suggesting that those with the latter are more likely to exhibit sustainable behavior.

Highlights

Research on sustainable behavior relies on three main types of studies: publicly available data, experimental research, and questionnaires.

The New Ecological Paradigm questionnaire, developed by Riley Dunlap, measures agreement with environmental statements to assess sustainable behavior.

The questionnaire has been validated as a reliable instrument for predicting opinions on conservation and sustainability across cultures.

Ecological literacy and environmental knowledge are key factors influencing sustainable choices in personal life.

The 'big five' personality traits—extraversion, agreeableness, openness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism—are relevant to sustainable behavior.

Openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness are the three 'big five' traits that correlate with environmentally friendly behavior.

Gender differences show that women are generally more concerned about the environment and nature than men.

The presence of women in executive committees is linked to increased attention to sustainability within organizations.

Female CEOs have a significant impact on sustainability in banking decision-making.

Education and occupation type are linked to attitudes and behaviors towards environmental sustainability.

Highly educated individuals are more likely to act on their environmental attitudes, unlike the less educated.

For the less educated, social norms play a larger role in environmental behavior than personal attitudes.

Political affiliation in the USA is a stronger predictor of environmental behavior than education or scientific knowledge.

A shift in eco-friendliness among political parties has been observed over the past three decades.

People are resistant to changing broader attitudes, even when faced with compelling evidence.

Religiousness in the USA is negatively correlated with sustainable behavior, although European studies are lacking.

Materialism is inversely related to sustainable behavior, indicating that less materialistic individuals are more likely to engage in eco-friendly actions.

Individuals with an external locus of control tend to exhibit less sustainable behavior compared to those with an internal locus of control.

Transcripts

Research about interindividual differences in sustainable behavior is mainly based on three types of studies:

publicly available information (like water use, recycling, electricity figures, etc., experimental research, and questionnaires.

An example of such a questionnaire is the so called New Ecological Paradigm, developed by Riley Dunlap and colleagues.

This questionnaire presents a number of statements and a rating scale that measures the extent to which a person agrees with these statements.

A few examples of such questions are: “We are approaching the limit of the number of people the earth can support” and “Plants and animals have as much right as humans to exist.”

The questionnaire has been shown to be a reliable, that is, accurate, measurement instrument.

It predicts opinions about conservation and sustainability and also behavior intentions in different cultures.

So which features correlate with differences in sustainable behavior?

First, relevant knowledge.

The more ecologically literate and the more knowledge one has about the environment, the more one is inclined to make sustainable choices in one’s personal life.

Second, personality traits are relevant. In the personality literature, research has identified five personality traits that together describe ones personality accurately.

These so called ‘big five’ are extraversion, agreeableness, openness, conscientiousness and neuroticism.

Three of these correlate with environment-friendly behavior: openness (or, flexibility in thinking), agreeableness (or, empathy)

and conscientiousness (which comes down to future-sensitiveness in this context).

Third, women are more concerned about the environment and nature than men.

For instance, in a study of 4500 organizations, spread over 71 countries, it was found that attention for sustainability increases if even only a single one of the people in the executive committee is a woman.

Also, female CEO’s in banks have a large influence on sustainability in decision making.

A fourth feature that matter is education and type of work that a person does.

Attitudes and opinions determine behavior (like recycling or donating money to environmental organizations) of the highly educated, but not of the lower educated.

The lower educated are not only less used to having influence and being able to choose, they also attach less importance to it.

Furthermore, in the higher educated, climate-friendly behavior reflects attitude, but for the lower educated, doing as others do is more important than behaving according to their own attitude.

Fifth, also beliefs and values matter.

In the USA, political affiliation is a better predictor of global warming-related behavior than education and scientific knowledge.

In 1991, for instance, eco-friendliness was equally large among republicans as among democrats.

Thirty years later eco-friendliness is 50% lower in republicans than in democrats.

Research in the area of political psychology shows that people are willing to change their opinion about details concerning their beliefs,

but that they are not willing to change broader attitudes, even in the presence of convincing evidence.

Sustainable behavior also correlates with religiousness in the USA and I’m not aware of studies on the same topic in Europe, though.

There is also a negative correlation with materialism.

Finally, people with an external locus of control, that is, people who attribute successes and failures to luck or chance rather than to their own efforts,

display less sustainable behavior than people with an internal locus of control.