The Negative Associations Between Materialism and Pro-Environmental Attitudes and Behaviors: Individual and Regional Evidence From China

2018 ◽  
Vol 52 (6) ◽  
pp. 611-638 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dian Gu ◽  
Shuqing Gao ◽  
Rong Wang ◽  
Jiang Jiang ◽  
Yan Xu
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Attitudes ◽  
General Social Survey ◽  
World Value Survey ◽  
Environmental Behaviors ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Attitudes And Behaviors ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
And Behaviors ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Chinese General Social Survey

Previous studies have shown that materialism is related to environmentalism, but unstable findings still exist. To clarify the relationships between materialism and pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors, the present study addressed some methodological issues and provided both individual- and regional-level evidence from China. Using data from the World Value Survey and the Chinese General Social Survey, we observed that materialism was negatively associated with pro-environmental attitudes (Study 1, n = 2,300; Study 2, n = 3,672) and pro-environmental behaviors (Study 2). Moreover, we found that pro-environmental attitudes partially mediated the association between materialism and pro-environmental behaviors in Study 2. We further searched for additional regional evidence in Study 3, and we found that the more materialistic regions are, the more energy is consumed. Results indicate that materialism is associated with decreases in pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors. We conclude with a discussion of the theoretical and practical implications of the research findings.

Social Capital’s Influence on Environmental Concern in China: An Analysis of the 2010 Chinese General Social Survey

2019 ◽  
Vol 62 (6) ◽  
pp. 844-864 ◽  
Author(s):  
Feng Hao ◽  
Jay L. Michaels ◽  
Shannon Elizabeth Bell
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Environmental Concern ◽  
General Social Survey ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Chinese General Social Survey

This study examines the ways in which social capital influences people’s environmental concern in China. Using data obtained from the 2010 Chinese General Social Survey, we measure social capital through social networks and trust. We find that the ways people think about and act toward others influence the ways they think about and act toward the environment. The structural equation modeling results suggest that one’s connections with others, including socializing with relatives and friends as well as general social networking, are significantly and positively related to various dimensions of environmental concern. Greater trust is positively related to one’s willingness to make sacrifices for the benefit of the environment but is also negatively related to perceived dangerousness of pollution. Our findings highlight the value of social capital in promoting environmental concern. We discuss these findings in the context of existing literature, and propose policy implications and suggest directions for future research.

scholarly journals Thank God? The Effect of Religious Attitudes and Behaviors on Emotions

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jadon Sokoll-Ward
Keyword(s):  
Religious Affiliation ◽  
General Social Survey ◽  
Religious Service Attendance ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Religious Attitudes ◽  
Attitudes And Behaviors ◽  
And Behaviors ◽  
Nationally Representative ◽  
The Relationship

What is the effect of one’s religious attitudes and behaviors on the frequency of different emotions? I propose that a stronger religious affiliation and a higher frequency of attending religious services will lead to feeling happy and ashamed more often and feeling sad, anxious, and mad less often. Further, I propose that a higher frequency of prayer will lead to feeling sad, anxious, mad, and ashamed more often and feeling happy less often. I analyze the frequency of these emotions in 892 respondents to the 1996 General Social Survey, a nationally representative dataset obtained via face to face interviews. Regression analysis revealed that more frequent prayer leads to feeling sad and ashamed more often, and more frequent religious service attendance leads to feeling anxious less often. Demographic control variables are also found to have an effect on how frequently one feels sad, mad, and anxious. The results offer partial support for the hypotheses. Further research is necessary to reconcile these differences and to explain the mechanisms by which the relationship between religiosity and emotions operates.

scholarly journals Measuring Environmental Attitudes and Behaviors

2021 ◽  
pp. 15-35
Author(s):  
Markus Hadler ◽  
Beate Klösch ◽  
Stephan Schwarzinger ◽  
Markus Schweighart ◽  
Rebecca Wardana ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Behavioral Intentions ◽  
Environmental Attitudes ◽  
Environmental Behavior ◽  
Environmentally Friendly ◽  
Demographic Characteristics ◽  
Environmental Behaviors ◽  
Attitudes And Behaviors ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
Self Reports ◽  
And Behaviors

AbstractThis chapter provides an overview of the theoretical approaches to environmental attitudes and behaviors. It includes a discussion of different scales and surveys used in other programs with a focus on this topic. Scales measuring general environmental behavior, just like items in surveys, tend to focus on behavioral intentions and are correlated with environmentally friendly attitudes. In contrast, emission-related behavior depends more on context and socio-demographic characteristics and is rarely asked in surveys. Gaps frequently occur between environmental attitudes and general behaviors—the value-action gap—and between environmental behaviors and the actual ecological consequences of actions—the behavior-impact gap. Finally, previous results and problems encountered in the validation of self-reports on environmental behavior are highlighted.

scholarly journals Big Five Facets’ Associations with Pro-Environmental Attitudes and Behaviors

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alistair Raymond Bryce Soutter ◽  
René Mõttus
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Personality Traits ◽  
Big Five ◽  
Predictive Power ◽  
Environmental Attitudes ◽  
Environmental Behaviors ◽  
Prediction Analysis ◽  
Attitudes And Behaviors ◽  
And Behaviors ◽  
Detailed Picture

Climate change mandates us to understand why individual’s (do not) act environmentally and personality traits are well suited for this purpose. Research has mostly focused on broad do-main-level associations between personality traits and pro-environmental behaviors and attitudes. In two datasets (N = 501 and 287), we examined whether facets provided a more detailed picture of these association. Some facets were found to be the main drivers of the do-main-level associations. Out-sample prediction analysis showed that facets collectively predicted pro-environmental attitudes (r = .50 to .52) and behaviors (r = .29 to .42), but domains matched them. Therefore, facets provided a greater understanding of traits’ association with pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors than domains, but no additional overall predictive power.

scholarly journals Social change and generalized anomie: Why economic development has reduced social trust in China

2018 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 58-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhenhua Su ◽  
Yanyu Ye ◽  
Pu Wang
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Social Trust ◽  
General Social Survey ◽  
Rapid Onset ◽  
Chinese Society ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Integration Mechanisms ◽  
Per Capita ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Chinese General Social Survey

Chinese society is facing a decline in social trust, a serious crisis which is escalating as modernization continues. In this article the authors apply Durkheim’s social transitional theory to explain this disconcerting phenomenon, using data from the Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS) 2013. The study finds that economic development as measured by per capita GDP of counties in China has given rise to social anomie, which has led to a reduction in social trust. With the rapid onset of modernization, social norms have gradually fallen by the wayside and new social integration mechanisms have not yet been fully established, resulting in a state of generalized social anomie in China.

scholarly journals Attitudinal Change, Cohort Replacement, and the Liberalization of Attitudes about Same-sex Relationships, 1973–2018

2021 ◽  
pp. 073112142199485
Author(s):  
Ashley Wendell Kranjac ◽  
Robert L. Wagmiller
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
General Social Survey ◽  
Individual Change ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Same Sex Marriage ◽  
Population Turnover ◽  
Demographic Processes ◽  
Lesbian And Gay Rights ◽  
Using Data

Americans’ attitudes toward same-sex relationships have liberalized considerably over the last 40 years. We examine how the demographic processes generating social change in attitudes toward same-sex relationships changed over time. Using data from the 1973 to 2018 General Social Survey and decomposition techniques, we estimate the relative contributions of intracohort change and cohort replacement to overall social change for three different periods. We examine (1) the period prior to the rapid increase in attitude liberalization toward same-sex marriage rights (1973–1991), (2) the period of contentious debate about same-sex marriage and lesbian and gay rights (1991–2002), and (3) the period of legislative and judicial liberalization at the state and federal levels (2002–2018). We find that both intracohort and intercohort change played positive and significant roles in the liberalization of attitudes toward same-sex relationships in the postlegalization period, but that individual change was more important than population turnover over this period.

scholarly journals How Different Are the Nordics? Unravelling the Willingness to Make Economic Sacrifices for the Environment

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 1294
Author(s):  
Joseph Anthony L. Reyes
Keyword(s):  
Multinomial Logistic Regression ◽  
Statistical Tests ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Environmental Policies ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Proenvironmental Behavior ◽  
Attitudes And Behaviors ◽  
Nordic Region ◽  
And Behaviors ◽  
Nonparametric Statistical

The Nordic countries are often considered as remarkably exceptional in terms of the proenvironmental behavior of their citizens and also as forerunners in environmental policies. However, very few empirical studies have been done at the aggregated level about how the Nordics compare to other countries. The article addresses this knowledge gap and analyzes the Nordic region in terms of willingness to make economic sacrifices, proenvironmental attitudes and behaviors. Data (N = 5877) from the environment module of the International Social Survey Program (ISSP) are utilized, with nonparametric statistical tests and multinomial logistic regression employed—wherein, emphasis is placed on the regression models for willingness as dependent variables as analysis of the first order, with attitudes, behaviors and sociodemographic variables as part of second order analysis. The findings reveal that the region’s higher levels of willingness, attitudes, and behaviors become more salient when compared to third countries. People in the Nordic region who are ‘neither willing nor unwilling’ to protect the environment can be considered as distinct, and should not be arbitrarily lumped within the categories of the ‘unwilling’ or ‘willing’ respondents. These insights allow for a deeper understanding of peoples’ willingness and the relationships to respective attitudes and behaviors beneficial towards engaging the acceptability of extant environmental policies.

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