Valuing Wealth, Power, and Achievement: Self-Enhancing Values and Environmental Behavior

Wesley SchultzCalifornia State University

Presentation delivered at the 26th International Congress of Applied Psychology, Athens, Greece. Address correspondences to: Wesley Schultz, Department of Psychology, California State University, San Marcos, CA, 92096. USA. Wschultz@csusm.edu. (760) 750-8045.

July 18, 2006

Values Long history in psychology (and social science)

with little agreement Economic value

Price someone is willing to pay for a good or service. Overvalued, undervalued

“By values, we mean the entire constellation of a person's attitudes, beliefs, opinions, hopes, fears, prejudices, needs, desires, and aspirations that, taken together, govern how one behaves.” (Mitchell, 1983; VALS project)

Life goals. Standards which serve as a guiding principle

in a person’s life. (Schwartz, 1992)

Norm Activation Values are the wellspring of attitudes,

beliefs, and behavior Individuals often hold conflicting values Values that are “activated” are stronger

predictors of behavior Norm-activation model of altruism

(Schwartz) Same behavior can be a manifestation of

very different values (Stern’s VBN Theory) Vego(ACego) + Valt(ACalt) + Vbio(ACbio) = behavior

The Inclusion Model

BiosphericMotives

EgoisticMotive

Behavior

+

+

Inclusion

Separate from nature

Connectedto nature

Rational Choice

Psychological Inclusion

Source: Schultz, P. W. (2002). Inclusion with nature: Understanding the psychology of human-nature interactions. In P. Schmuck, & P. W. Schultz (Eds.), The psychology of sustainable development (pp. 61-78). New York: Kluwer.

Schwartz’s Values ScalePlease rate each as “A GUIDING PRINCIPLE IN MY LIFE”

Predicting Environmental Behavior

Schultz & Zelezny (1998) Self-transcendence r=.24 Self-enhancement r=-.19 Consistent pattern across 5 countries Also evidence for norm activation (for ST only)

Similar pattern reported in other studies: Grunert and Juhl (1995) Karp (1996) Nordlund & Garvill (2002)

Can valuing self lead to conservation?

Maybe egoistic values just need to be “activated” Participants: 988 students from six countries

Brazil, Czech Republic, Germany, India, New Zealand, Russia

Self-reported environmental behavior (12) Environmental motives (ego, alt, bio) Schwartz’ values

Self-transcendence / enhancement Awareness of consequences

Global (should activate self-transcendence) Local (should activate self-enhancement)

Results? - Environmental Concerns

Multi-group CFA showed good evidence for structural equivalence across countries

Self-enhancement: r=+.16 egoistic, r=-.12 biospheric

Self-transcendence: r=-.28 egoistic, r=+.24 biospheric

Consistent across all six countries

Results? - Proenvironmental Behavior

Self-transcendence moderated regression Self-transcendence (beta= .18) Awareness of Consequences global (beta=.18) Ascription of Responsibility global (beta .15) Three-way multiplicative effect (p<.05)

Self-enhancement Self-enhancement (-.04, ns) Awareness of Consequences local (beta=+.07) Ascription of Responsibility local (beta=+.19) No significant multiplicative effects

Results? - Norm Activation

-0.1

-0.05

0

0.05

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0.15

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0.25

Correlation Coefficient (self-trans

and behavior)

Low AC / AR High AC / Low AR

Low AC / High AR

Hi AC / AR(activated)

Activating Beliefs

Source: Schultz, P. W., Gouveia, V., Cameron, L., Tankha, G., Schmuck, P., & Franek, M. (2005). Va lues and their relationship to environmental concern and conservation behavior. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 36, 457-475.

Discussion

Self-transcendent values are correlated with biospheric environmental concerns Positively with environmental behavior Especially when activated

Self-enhancing values are correlated with egoistic environmental concerns Negatively with environmental behavior No evidence for norm activation

Discussion

Many speculations in the literature that egoistic concerns (and self-enhancement) could lead to environmental behaviors

No evidence here (or elsewhere). Why?1. Environmental behavior is viewed as

“altruism” Sacrificing. Giving up. Donating. Going without. No appeal to selfish motives.

2. Environmental behaviors ARE altruistic Commons Dilemma GRIT (commons solution) requires sacrifice

Discussion

3. Environmental problems not yet severe enough to activate self-interest

Oil, gas, and conservation?

4. Correlations might not be the right statistic Egoistic and biospheric concerns “progressively

inclusive.” Biospheric concern does not mean lack of concern

for self. Correlations can’t detect this.

Source: Schultz, P. W., & Zelezny, L. (2003). Reframing environmental messages to be congruent with American values. Human Ecology Review, 10, 126-136.

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Brazil Colombia Costa Rica

El Salvador Paraguay Venezuela Spain Germany India NewZealand

Russia UnitedStates

Egoistic Concerns Biospheric Concerns

FIGURE 18-3 Average levels of egoistic and biospheric environmental concerns for selected countries.

Source: Oskamp, S., & Schultz, P. W. (2005). Attitudes and opinions (3rd ed.). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. Chapter 18.