- Oxford Library of Psychology
- The Oxford Handbook of Environmental and Conservation Psychology
- Dedication
- Oxford Library of Psychology
- About the Editor
- Contributors
- Introduction: Environmental and Conservation Psychology
- Foundations of an Ecological Approach to Psychology
- Environmental Perception: Wayfinding and Spatial Cognition
- Environmental Attitudes
- Environmental Values
- Justice and the Allocation of Natural Resources: Current Concepts and Future Directions
- Children and Nature
- Emotions and Environment
- Place Attachment
- Environment and Identity
- Cultural Differences in Environmental Engagement
- Cities
- Residential Places and Neighborhoods: Toward Healthy Life, Social Integration, and Reputable Residence
- Work Environments
- School Environments
- Health Care Environments
- Correctional Environments
- Natural Landscapes
- Extreme and Unusual Environments: Challenges and Responses
- Noise
- Response to Environmental Disasters
- Environmental Injustice, Collaborative Action, and the Inclusionary Shift
- Therapeutic Uses of Nature
- Restorative Environments
- Healthy Physical Activity and Eating: Environmental Supports for Health
- Environmental Epiphanies: Theoretical Foundations and Practical Applications
- The Natural Environment in Residential Settings: Influences on Human Health and Function
- The Development of Conservation Behaviors in Childhood and Youth
- Promoting Pro-Environmental Behavior
- Protecting Natural Resources: Psychological and Contextual Determinants of Freshwater Conservation
- Collaborative Processes in Ecosystem Management
- Learning Our Way Out of Unsustainability: The Role of Environmental Education
- Psychology and Climate Change: Beliefs, Impacts, and Human Contributions
- Conclusions: Directions for the Future
- Index
Abstract and Keywords
Values are desirable goals that serve as guiding principles in people’s life. As such, values can influence multiple beliefs, attitudes, norms, and behaviors simultaneously. Values determine what people attend to, what knowledge becomes cognitively most accessible, how people evaluate various aspects of the situation, and what alternatives are being considered, which in turn affects actual behavior. Different individuals may endorse the same values, but they are likely to prioritize various values differently, resulting in different preferences, beliefs, attitudes, norms, and choices. In this chapter, we discuss relevant value theories and elaborate on four types of values that are particularly relevant in the environmental domain: hedonic, egoistic, altruistic, and biospheric values. Values typically influence behavior indirectly, via behavior-specific beliefs, preferences, attitudes, and norms. Values are particularly influential when they are strongly endorsed, and when they are activated, cognitively supported, central to the self, and part of our self-identity. Values reflect a broad range of motivations (notably hedonic, egoistic, altruistic, and biospheric motivations) and as such differ from ecological worldviews and environmental concerns that focus on environmental motivations.
Keywords: values, social value orientations, hedonic values, egoistic values, altruistic values, biospheric values, self-enhancement values, self-transcendence values, ecological worldviews, environmental concern, environmental beliefs, norms, environmental behavior
Linda Steg Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences University of Groningen Groningen, The Netherlands
Judith I. M. De Groot School of Design, Engineering & Computing Bournemouth University Dorset, UK
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- Oxford Library of Psychology
- The Oxford Handbook of Environmental and Conservation Psychology
- Dedication
- Oxford Library of Psychology
- About the Editor
- Contributors
- Introduction: Environmental and Conservation Psychology
- Foundations of an Ecological Approach to Psychology
- Environmental Perception: Wayfinding and Spatial Cognition
- Environmental Attitudes
- Environmental Values
- Justice and the Allocation of Natural Resources: Current Concepts and Future Directions
- Children and Nature
- Emotions and Environment
- Place Attachment
- Environment and Identity
- Cultural Differences in Environmental Engagement
- Cities
- Residential Places and Neighborhoods: Toward Healthy Life, Social Integration, and Reputable Residence
- Work Environments
- School Environments
- Health Care Environments
- Correctional Environments
- Natural Landscapes
- Extreme and Unusual Environments: Challenges and Responses
- Noise
- Response to Environmental Disasters
- Environmental Injustice, Collaborative Action, and the Inclusionary Shift
- Therapeutic Uses of Nature
- Restorative Environments
- Healthy Physical Activity and Eating: Environmental Supports for Health
- Environmental Epiphanies: Theoretical Foundations and Practical Applications
- The Natural Environment in Residential Settings: Influences on Human Health and Function
- The Development of Conservation Behaviors in Childhood and Youth
- Promoting Pro-Environmental Behavior
- Protecting Natural Resources: Psychological and Contextual Determinants of Freshwater Conservation
- Collaborative Processes in Ecosystem Management
- Learning Our Way Out of Unsustainability: The Role of Environmental Education
- Psychology and Climate Change: Beliefs, Impacts, and Human Contributions
- Conclusions: Directions for the Future
- Index
