INSTITUTE OF PSYCHOLOGY

Prof. Kaiser's invited keynote address titeled Protecting the environment for its own sake against all odds. at the 3^rd International Conference on Environmental Psychology (Siracusa, Italy, October 6th 2021) is now available to watch online. Have a look and let us know what you think!

New publication!

Kaiser, F. G., Kibbe, A. & Hentschke, L. (2021). Offsetting behavioral costs with per­so­nal atti­tude: A slightly more complex view of the attitude-behavior relation. Per­so­na­li­ty and Indi­vi­du­al Differences, 183, 111158.

Available free of charge for the next 50 days: https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1dUlWheKdmtb1

Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2021.111158

Abstract:

In this research, we propose that the notorious attitude-behavior gap—the notion that people profess attitudes without taking real actions—might also stem from ignoring the fact that manifest behavior typically involves costs (i.e., personal resources such as time, money, exertion). In two quasi-field experiments with convenience samples (N₁ = 396; N₂ = 252), we demonstrate that the people who performed increasingly costly behavior professed progressively stronger attitudes. Our findings suggest that the costs that obstruct behavior must be offset by attitudes before behavior can manifest itself. Thus, there is a need to stop confusing weak attitude-behavior correlations with the behavioral irrelevance of attitudes. To avoid underestimating the importance of people's attitudes concerning environmental protection, the strength of attitudes relative to the associated behavioral costs must be considered.

Highlights:

• A too simplistic view of the attitude-behavior relation makes it appear inconsistent.

• Attitudes reflect the occurrence probabilities of attitude-relevant behavior.

• Progressively stronger attitudes compensate for increasingly costly behavior.

• Surmounted behavioral costs coincide with the strength of environmental attitudes.

• Undemanding opinions must not be confused with behavior-relevant attitudes.

New publication!

Kaiser, F. G. & Lange, F. (2021). Offsetting behavioral costs with personal attitude: Iden­tifying the psychological essence of an environmental attitude measure. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 75, 101619. 

Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2021.101619

Abstract:

Identifying the essence of a latent psychological attribute captured by a measurement instrument requires more than a glance at the measure's indicators or confidence in an established measurement practice. It demands an exploration of the nomological network in which an attribute (e.g., environmental attitude) is theoretically anticipated to operate. With our study, we aimed to identify the General Ecological Behavior (GEB) scale as a Campbell-paradigm-based measure of environmental attitude. In our empirical test (N = 183), we juxtaposed the two estimated parameters—behavioral costs and what is believed to represent environmental attitude—with real costs. To do so, costs were manipulated as objective waiting times that differentiated between otherwise identical pro-environmental behaviors. Our findings corroborate the idea that the GEB's cost estimates reflect actual behavioral costs. Furthermore, progressively increasing costs were the expected progressive impediment of behavior that, according to Campbell's paradigm, environmental attitude is presumed to offset.