Attitudes and Norms
Many people care about the environment and are in favor of protecting it, but these concerns are imperfect determinants of behavior. There are good reasons for this “value-action gap”: incentives are frequently aligned against environmentally preferable action, and we each face so many daily environmentally relevant decisions that efforts to do the right thing consistently are daunting. These approaches can even backfire, as people dislike feeling judged, or may tire of constant efforts to behave and may backslide on good intentions. A more promising option for explaining or encouraging environmental behavior is invoking social norms. People modify their behavior to fit social expectations, so community decisions that work against environmental behavior can discourage beneficial behavior. Framing information in a way that demonstrates the environmentally beneficial choices of neighbors or group members increases willingness to make environmentally positive choices.