News
Invitation: Colloquium with Dr. Michael A. Ranney
We cordially invite you to a joint colloqium with the Department of Environmental Psychology!
Our guest, Dr. Michael A. Ranney, will give a talk with the title "Twelve Brief, Experimentally-Vetted, No-Polarization Ways to Reduce Denial of Human-Caused Global Warming."
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When? 30th August, 13-15h
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Where? G22A-113 (OVGU Main Campus)
- Language: English
New Publication: A general explanation for environmental policy support: An example using carbon taxation approval in Germany
Available free of charge at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2023.102066
Gerdes, R., Bauske, E. & Kaiser, F. G. (2023). A general explanation for environmental policy support: An example using carbon taxation approval in Germany. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 90, 102066.
Abstract:
In democratic societies, public support is crucial for the success of climate change mitigation policies. In this article, we present a parsimonious explanation—grounded in the Campbell paradigm—for explicit approval of environmental policies based on two forces: (a) an individual's commitment to environmental protection (i.e., people's environmental attitudes) and (b) the figurative costs entailed by a specific policy. We tested this model with carbon tax variants and data from German samples from four different sociocultural conditions (Ntotal = 8,166). The results showed that only a minority (36%) were sufficiently committed to environmental protection to approve of a carbon tax regardless of its specific details. Even the most favorable tax level and use of revenue achieved an approval rate of only 48%. Regional differences and interactions among the carbon taxation specifications turned out to be negligible. Overall, our results corroborate the generalizability of the proposed environmental policy support model.
Highlights:
-Carbon tax approval originates in people's commitment to environmental protection.
-Policies' attributes (e.g., revenue use) control approval rates as costs and yields.
-Only 36% of people approve of carbon taxation irrespective of the specific details.
-Even the most favorable carbon tax variant achieved an approval rate of only 48%.
-More complex models do not necessarily lead to superior explanation or prediction.
New Publication: Supporting and expressing support for environmental policies
Available free of charge at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2023.101997
Kaiser, F. G., Gerdes, R. & König, F. (2023). Supporting and expressing support for environmental policies. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 87, 101997.
Abstract:
People engage in all kinds of behaviors because they aim to protect the environment. Among other actions, such behaviors involve supporting and expressing support for environmental policies. In this article, we investigated two forces that control people's environmental policy support: their commitment to protecting the environment (conceptually speaking, people's environmental attitudes) and the corollaries of a policy (i.e., policy-specific costs) that need to be offset by an individual's environmental attitude. We surveyed two convenience samples (N1 = 248; N2 = 176) on their support for a whole array of different environmental policies that came with various costly corollaries and, more specifically, for a range of CO2 taxes. We found that verbal expressions of support for environmental policies reflect people's environmental attitudes, and we subsequently corroborated this finding in a preregistered replication (N = 450). Fittingly, we also found that people who express support for higher CO2 taxes hold progressively stronger environmental attitudes.
Highlights:
-Citizens' support for effective environmental policies is crucial in democracies.
-Expressing support for a policy is behavior aimed at protecting the environment.
-Environmental policy support is controlled by a person's environmental attitude.
-Support is also controlled by the costs that accompany a specific policy.
-Only a populace with strong environmental attitudes supports effective policies.
"People waive control over their electricity consumption as a means to protect the environment" - Our findings at the Sustainability Preconference of the SPSP 2023
Q&A with Prof. Kaiser: "Improving people’s 'motivation for environmental protection' is possible but needs probably an array of measures"
In a short Q&A session with Maria Bolevich from TheDeepness.org Prof. Kaiser answers questions about his paper "The supportive role of environmental attitude for learning about environmental issues". Find the Q&A session here.