Psychological richness increases behavioral intention to protect the environment

doi:10.3724/SP.J.1041.2023.01330

Abstract

Abstract:

Understanding the relationship between happiness and positive factors and pro-environmental behavior offers important practical implications for sustainable social development. To investigate the positive antecedents of pro-environmental behavior, the current study focused on psychological richness and examined its influence on pro-environmental behavior as well as potential mechanisms and boundary conditions through 10 studies (N = 2979). It is shown that psychological richness facilitates engagement in sustainable activities (Studies 1.1-1.4) through an increased level of self-expansion (Studies 2.1-2.4). Furthermore, the effect of self-expansion on pro-environmental behavior was more significant when individuals viewed nature as smaller than themselves (Studies 3.1-3.2). These findings reveal the positive effect of happiness on pro-environmental behaviors and provide insights to promote people's participation in building a sustainable society.

Key words: psychological richness, self-expansion, self-nature size, pro-environmental behavior

WEI Xinni, YU Feng, PENG Kaiping, ZHONG Nian. (2023). Psychological richness increases behavioral intention to protect the environment. Acta Psychologica Sinica, 55(8), 1330-1343.

Figures/Tables 4

References 81

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