Facilitating Pro-Environmental Behavior: An Overview of ......behavioral change is important to...

N E W D I R E C T I O N S I N C O N S E R V A T I O N P S Y C H O L O G Y W E B I N A R S E R I E S

Facilitating Pro-Environmental Behavior: An Overview of the Research Tuesday, February 6, 2018 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM EST

The integrity of conservation psychology as a field of research and practice is grounded in rigorous research. This webinar will feature an overview of relevant research, introduction to one empirically tested approach to facilitating behavior change, illustrated by the example of a recent study on fossil fuel divestment

Presenter: Abigail Abrash Walton, PhD Antioch University New England


Webinar Logistics

• Everyone should be connected via Audio Broadcast upon entering the webinar – You do not need to call in and you are automatically muted

• The presentation will be recorded and posted to the Antioch web site within one week

• Please submit any questions you have for the presenter in the Q& A section

• If you are having trouble with any aspect of the broadcast, use the Chat section to message the Host directly


• Overview & Introductions • Joy Whiteley Ackerman, PhD

• Presentation • Abigail Abrash Walton, PhD

• Discussion & Audience Questions

Moderator: Dr. Joy Whiteley Ackerman, Antioch University New England



Presenter: Dr. Abigail

Abrash Walton

Dr. Abigail Abrash Walton serves as co-director of both Antioch's Conservation Psychology Institute and Center for Climate Preparedness and Community Resilience and as faculty in the Department of Environmental Studies, where she directs the Advocacy for Social Justice and Sustainability master's degree concentration. Under her leadership, Antioch has developed and advanced a range of sustainability and social justice initiatives. Her public engagement, research, and teaching focus on change leadership, facilitating pro-environmental behavior, and translating values into effective action, particularly regarding environmental and social performance. She enjoys the spirit and practice of innovation and has played a central role in launching Antioch's Conservation Psychology Institute and Translating Research to Inform Policy workshops and in catalyzing a national-level working group to build the capacity of scientists and researchers to engage with the public policy process.


Moderator: Dr. Joy Ackerman

Dr. Joy Ackerman is a Core Faculty member in the Environmental Studies Department at Antioch University New England, where she serves as Director of Conservation Psychology. Joy teaches graduate courses including Conservation Psychology, Ecological Thought, and Making Sense of Place.

Joy advises students in the Conservation Psychology Certificate Program, the Self-Designed M.S. in Environmental Studies, and doctoral students with interests in spirituality, place and nature experience. She received her Ph.D. in environmental studies from Antioch University, focusing on sacred geography through researching Walden Pond as a place of pilgrimage. She is interested in the phenomenology of place experience, environmental and ecological identity, and how people experience, develop and articulate their connection with nature.


Tuesday, March 20, 2018 12:00 – 1:00 PM EST Have you noticed that some environmental movements

seem to suddenly “take off”, like going organic, whereas others seem to struggle with gaining widespread adoption, like reusable shopping bags? In this webinar we’ll dig into the Diffusion of Innovations Theory (Rogers, 2003) that explains how these movements start in the first place, and what turns a movement into a social norm that sticks. In addition to exploring the theory of social norms, this presentation will also identify the behavioral underpinnings for why they occur and how these behavioral insights can be used to motivate greater adoption of conservation behaviors.

Creating a Conservation Movement

Presenter: Brooke Tully

“the scientific study of the reciprocal relationships between humans and the rest of nature, with a particular focus on how to encourage conservation of the natural world.”

(Saunders, 2003, p.

138)

Conservation Psychology is

Image source: http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/hledej.php?hleda=crystal+ball

What [conservation practitioners] need are trained people, useful methods, and tested knowledge that they can use to improve

their day-to-day work. (Salafsky, 2003, p. 176)

The Anthropocene Epoch & Homo Sapiens

Environmental solutions = human behavior change (Heberlein, 2012; Saunders, 2003; Schultz, 2011, 2013; Stern, 2000a)

Image source: https://www.edgehill.ac.uk/news/2013/10/geological-anthropocene-era/

• Osbaldiston, R. (2013). Synthesizing the experiments and theories of conservation psychology. Sustainability, 5(6), 2770-2795.

• Osbaldiston, R., & Schott, J.P. (2012). Environmental Sustainability and behavioral science: Meta-analysis of proenvironmental behavior experiments. Environment and Behavior, 44, 257-299.

* Recycling * Conservation of energy, water, gasoline

Most experimental research on conservation behaviors has focused on a small set of behaviors, principally at the household level.

Image source: http://canacopegdl.com/synonym/household.html

Source: USGCRP, 2017: Climate Science Special Report: Fourth National Climate Assessment, Volume I[Wuebbles, D.J., D.W. Fahey, K.A. Hibbard, D.J. Dokken, B.C. Stewart, and T.K. Maycock (eds.)]. U.S. Global Change Research Program, Washington, DC, USA, 470 pp, doi: 10.7930/J0J964J6. https://science2017.globalchange.gov/

Human

Activities Are

the Primary

Driver of

Recent Global

Temperature

Rise

http://doi.org/10.7930/J0J964J6

https://science2017.globalchange.gov/

https://science2017.globalchange.gov/

The Phenomenon

Image Source: www.divestinvest.org/philanthropy/

Source: DivestInvest.org (2017)

$5.5 trillion

Source: DivestInvest.org (2017)

Fossil Fuel Divested Assets (Pledged/Actual) and Global Stock Market Value

US $5.5 trillion

US $63.5 trillion

Data sources: Arabella Advisors (2016); DivestInvest.org (2017); VisualCapitalist.com (n.d.)

Central Research Question:

What explained U.S.-based, private foundation

leaders’ readiness to pursue fossil-fuel divestment

by their institutions?

Image source: standards.gov.nz

Transtheoretical Model of Behavior

Change

Core constructs of the TTM.

TTM

Stages of Readiness to Engage

in New Behavior

Decisional Balance

Self-Efficacy

Processes of

Change

Precontemplation Contemplation Preparation Action Maintenance

TTM Processes of Change Ten Most Effective PEB Interventions and

Treatments

Consciousness raising: increasing

awareness via information, education, and

personal feedback about a problem

behavior and potential solution

Justifications/Instructions: reasons for

performing a specific behavior (also called

declarative information or why-to information)

Dramatic relief: experiencing negative

and positive emotions regarding the

behavior/change

Environmental Reevaluation: assessing

impact on others of your behavior and

possible change

Justifications: reasons for performing a specific

behavior (also called declarative information or

why-to information)

Self-Reevaluation: realizing that the

behavioral change is important to personal

identity, happiness, success and/or values

Cognitive Dissonance: accessing preexisting

beliefs or attitudes in attempt to make

participants behave in ways that were consistent

with those beliefs to reduce the dissonance

Table 2.2

Comparison of TTM Processes of Change and Most

Effective PEB Facilitative Interventions and Treatments

Source: Abrash Walton, 2016, p. 78

TTM Processes of Change Ten Most Effective PEB Interventions and

Treatments Social liberation: empowering individuals to engage in the

change behavior by providing choices and resources; societal

support for behavior; realizing that social norms are changing

to support the new behavior

Social modeling/Making it Easy: passing of information via

demonstration or discussion in which the initiators indicate that they

personally engage in the behavior; changing situational conditions,

involved making behaviors easier to do

Self-liberation: making a firm commitment to change;

believing in one’s ability to change and making commitments

and recommitments to act on that belief

Goal setting/Commitment: aim for a predetermined goal; make some

sort of verbal or written commitment to engage in a behavior

Helping Relationships: seeking and using social support to

make and sustain change; interacting with people who are

supportive of the change

Counter conditioning: substituting new ways of

acting/thinking for old behaviors

Making it Easy: changing situational conditions, involved making

behaviors easier to do

Reinforcement management: increasing rewards for new

behaviors and decreasing rewards for old behaviors

Rewards: any kind of monetary gain that people received as a result of

participating in the experiment

Stimulus control: removing reminders and cues to engage in

the old behaviors; introducing reminders and cues to engage in

the new behaviors

Prompts: non-informational reminders to perform the next specific

action; Feedback: information about the extent to which a behavior has

been performed in an earlier time frame

Table 2.2

Comparison of TTM Processes of Change and Most

Effective PEB Facilitative Interventions and Treatments

Source: Abrash Walton, 2016, p. 78

FINDINGS:

Divestment Behavior Change Process

Source: www.journeytopenuel.com

Contemplation

Preparation (commitment)

Action

Maintenance

Research Design

Two Datasets

Two Phases

Phase 1: Study Population Criteria:

• U.S.-based, private independent foundation, as defined by the

U.S. Internal Revenue Service (Internal Revenue Service, 2014)

• Public commitment to divest the foundation’s institutional assets

from fossil fuels (Divest-Invest Philanthropy, 2015)

Phase 2: Study Participant Criteria:

• Publicly named as foundation’s representative for the Divest-

Invest Philanthropy divestment commitment (Divest-Invest

Philanthropy, 2015) or

• Served in formal, top leadership role (CEOs or board chairs)

Table 4.1

Descriptors of Study Population Organizations

Foundation

Identifier

Geographic Region Total Institutional

Assets (millions)

Divest-Invest Public

Commitment Statement

A West Coast < $10 Yes

B East Coast < $10 Yes

C East Coast < $10 Yes

D East Coast < $10 Yes

E West Coast < $10 Yes

F East Coast < $10 Yes

G East Coast < $10 Yes

H East Coast < $10 Yes

I East Coast < $10 Yes

J East Coast < $10 Yes

K West Coast < $10 Yes

L East Coast $10-30 Yes

M West Coast $10-30 Yes

N East Coast $10-30 Yes

O Mountain/Midwest $10-30 Yes

P Mountain/Midwest $10-30 Yes

Q West Coast $10-30 Yes

R East Coast $10-30 No

S East Coast $10-30 Yes

T West Coast $10-30 Yes

U Mountain/Midwest $30-100 Yes

V West Coast $30-100 Yes

W East Coast $30-100 Yes

X East Coast $30-100 Yes

Y West Coast $30-100 Yes

Interviews (N=36; n=18)

Participant

Identifier

Total institutional

assets (millions) Institutional role Geographic Region

F1 < $10 President West Coast

F2 < $10 Trustee East Coast

F3 < $10 Trustee East Coast

F4 $10-$30 Board Chair West Coast

F5 $10-$30 Executive Director West Coast

F6 $10-$30 Executive Director East Coast

F7 $10-$30 President Mountain/Midwest

F8 $10-$30 President East Coast

F9 $10-$30 Trustee East Coast

F10 $30-100 Executive Director Mountain/Midwest

F11 $30-100 Executive Director East Coast

F12 $30-100 Executive Director West Coast

F13 > $100 Executive Director West Coast

F14 > $100 Executive Director East Coast

F15 > $100 CEO West Coast

F16 > $100 Trustee West Coast

F17 > $100 Executive Director East Coast

F18 > $100 President East Coast

Table 4.3 Descriptors for Participants

Divestment Decision

Figure 4.4. Organizational readiness to commit to divestment.

Contemplation Preparation (commitment)

Figure 4.5. Conceptual framework: Individual leader

divestment commitment and implementation behavior

change process.

•Considering implications of divestment (decisional balance inventory)

•Educating themselves about the feasibility of divestment

•Engaging the foundation board in conversation

Contemplation

•Feeling good: Positive emotions about making commitment to divest

•Making a divestment plan

Preparation •Defining what to divest

•Identifying alternatives

Action

•Including fossil fuel divestment in investment policy statement

•Monitoring investments

Maintenance

All Stages: Engaging effective support from investment advisors

TTM

Stages

Decisional Balance

Self-Efficacy

Processes of Change

Table 4.6

Divestment Commitment Decisional Balance Inventory

Pros Cons

Desire to align investing with

mission/vision/values/grant-making

Desire to address climate change (moral &

economic)

Desire to exercise leadership

Efficacy and feasibility of divestment, based

on personal, past activist experience

View of divestment as an investment

opportunity that would send market signal to

catalyze new investment services and products

and influence public policy

Time involved in researching and

implementing the decision

Potential for decreased performance of

the investment portfolio

TTM

Stages

Decisional Balance

Self-Efficacy

Processes of Change

• Ability to identify fossil fuel holdings

• Availability of alternative (i.e., non-fossil fuel) investment

vehicles

• Changing investment advisors

• Clear definitions of what constitutes divestment

• Effective support from investment advisor/s

• Existence of pro-socially responsible investing institutional

investment policy statement

• Familiarity with/prior engagement in

socially responsible investing

• Not owning a high percentage of

fossil fuel holdings, to begin with

• Resources provided by movement organizers

and think tanks (personnel and

decision-support tools)

Factors Affecting Sense of Self-Efficacy

TTM

Stages

Decisional Balance

Self-Efficacy

Processes of

Change

Process of

Change

New Term for

Process of Change

Evidence of Leader Experience

Consciousness

Raising

Recognizing Motivation to divest, based on their understanding of climate change

and the consequent need to end the use of fossil fuels

Dramatic

Relief

Reacting Strong emotions about climate change; Positive emotions about

committing to divestment; regret at not acting sooner

Environmental

Re-evaluation

Re-evaluating

(other)

Recognition of the problematic impacts of fossil fuels on human and

ecological systems

Self Re-

evaluation

Re-evaluating (self) Desire to align investments with mission, vision, values, and/or grant-

making; reflection on leaders’ own identity as environmentalists and

activists, including prior experience with South African divestment

and other forms of socially responsible investing

Social

Liberation

Realizing Recognition of the divestment movement and the resources movement

organizers provided to support the divestment behavior change

Self-liberation Committing Divestment commitment

Helping

Relationships

Reaching Out Actions to engage the effective support of investment advisors;

support by movement organizers

Reinforcement

Management

Rewarding Positive performance of portfolio, post-divestment; positive feedback

from others about the divestment decision

Counter

Conditioning

Replacing Reinvestment of institutional assets into “climate solutions”

Stimulus

Control

Restructuring Actions to include fossil fuel divestment in the foundation’s

investment policy statement

Table 4.8

Processes of Change, New Terms for Processes of Change, and Evidence of Leader Experience (Abrash Walton, 2016)

TTM

Stages

Decisional Balance

Self-Efficacy

Processes of

Change

If people just know

enough, they’ll change.

Ready

Pros outweigh cons

Feel confident about ability to change

There are10 general techniques for facilitating

behavior change

Abrash Walton, Abigail, "Positive Organizational Leadership and Pro-Environmental Behavior: The Phenomenon of Institutional Fossil Fuel Divestment" (2016). Dissertations & Theses. 269.

Ardoin, N., Heimlich, J., Braus, J., & Merrick, C. (2013) Influencing conservation action: What research says about environmental literacy, behavior, and conservation results. New York, NY: National Audubon Society.

Clayton, S., & Myers, G. (2015). Conservation psychology: Understanding and promoting human care for nature. Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell.doi: 9781118874608

Osbaldiston, R. (2013). Synthesizing the experiments and theories of conservation psychology. Sustainability, 5(6), 2770-2795.

Osbaldiston, R., & Schott, J.P. (2012). Environmental Sustainability and behavioral science: Meta-analysis of proenvironmental behavior experiments. Environment and Behavior, 44, 257-299.

Prochaska, J.O., DiClemente, C.C., & Norcross, J.C. (1992). In search of how people change: Applications to addictive behaviors. American Psychologist, 47 (9), 1102-1114.

Salafsky, N. (2003). Making conservation psychology relevant to practitioners. Human Ecology Review, 10(2), 174–176.

Saunders, C.D. (2003). The emerging field of conservation psychology. In Human Ecology Review, 10(2), 137-149.

Schultz, P. W. (2013). Strategies for promoting pro-environmental behavior: Lots of tools but

few instructions. European Psychologist, 19(2), 107–117. doi:10.1027/1016-9040/a000163

Schultz, P.W. (2011). Conservation means behavior. Conservation Biology, 25(6), 1080–1083. Society of Conservation Biology.

Steg, L. & Vlek, C. (2009). Encouraging pro-environmental behaviour: An integrative review and research agenda. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 29(3), 309–317. doi:10.1016/j.jenvp.2008.10.004

Stern, P.C. (2000b). Toward a coherent theory of environmentally significant behavior. Journal of Social Issues, 56(3), 407-424.

Stern, P. C. (2003). How can conservation psychology become influential? In Human Ecology Review, 10(2), 177–179.

Selected References

Source: Abrash Walton, 2016


Facilitating Pro-Environmental Behavior: An Overview of the Research

Q & A and Discussion

Moderator: Dr. Joy Whiteley Ackerman, Antioch University New England

Presenter: Dr. Abigail Abrash Walton,

Antioch University New England


Thanks for joining this webinar.

Please do offer us your feedback via the brief exit survey.



Tuesday, March 20, 2018 12:00 – 1:00 PM EST Have you noticed that some environmental movements

seem to suddenly “take off”, like going organic, whereas others seem to struggle with gaining widespread adoption, like reusable shopping bags? In this webinar we’ll dig into the Diffusion of Innovations Theory (Rogers, 2003) that explains how these movements start in the first place, and what turns a movement into a social norm that sticks. In addition to exploring the theory of social norms, this presentation will also identify the behavioral underpinnings for why they occur and how these behavioral insights can be used to motivate greater adoption of conservation behaviors.

Creating a Conservation Movement

Presenter: Brooke Tully

Facilitating Pro-Environmental Behavior: An Overview of ......behavioral change is important to...

Documents

Transcript of Facilitating Pro-Environmental Behavior: An Overview of ......behavioral change is important to...