Playlists and time perspective

Research on playlists has focused on how usage is related to technological and music industry variables, and the demographic characteristics of users. However, it also seems reasonable to suspect a psychological component to playlist usage. The present research considered an individual’s propensity to devise and make use of playlists in terms of time perspective. Significant results indicate an emphasis on the time at hand while listening, so that playlist use has a present-orientated time perspective, rather than a future-oriented time perspective. The findings support other recent research illustrating that exercising control over everyday listening is an important aspect of musical behavior in present-day music listening

Public consciousness and willingness to embrace ethical consumption of textile products in Mexico

The Mexican economy has been showing a continuous and arguably remarkable growth in the last decade, and it is expected that this strong economic growth is based on a balance between social equity, fiscal growth and environmental protection. This composite situation requires us to have a clear understanding of changes in consumer behaviour and their attitudes towards ethical consumerism in this region. With the use of a semi-structured questionnaire, this pilot study presented a detailed analysis of the consumer attitudes towards ethical consumerism in relation to their socio economic class levels in this region, the public consciousness and willingness to embrace ethical consumption of textile products in Mexico were thus determined. It is hoped that this knowledge provides the basis for the initiation of a framework of activities and measures to develop sustainable consumption habits and to educate consumers on the subject of ethical consumption

The morality of attitudes toward nanotechnology: about God, techno-scientific progress, and interfering with nature

Using survey data, we examine public attitudes toward and awareness of nanotechnology in Germany (N = 750). First, it is shown that a majority of the people are still not familiar with nanotechnology. In addition, diffusion of information about nanotechnology thus far mostly seems to reach men and people with a relative higher educational background. Also, pro-science and technology views are positively related with nanotech familiarity. Results further show that a majority of the people have an indifferent, ambiguous, or non-attitude toward nanotechnology. Multinomial logit analyses further reveal that nanotech familiarity is positively related with people’s attitudes. In addition, it is shown that traditional religiosity is unrelated to attitudes and that individual religiosity is weakly related to nanotechnology attitudes. However, moral covariates other than religiosity seem of major importance. In particular, our results show that more negative views on technological and scientific progress as well as more holistic views about the relation between people and the environment increase the likelihood of having a negative attitude toward nanotechnology

Introduction to the Conceptualisation of Environmental Citizenship for Twenty-First-Century Education

The EU’s growth strategy (Europe 2020) and the European vision for green, circular and low-carbon economy in line with the EU 2050 (EU-roadmap 2050) give par- ticular attention to citizens’ participation and engagement and therefore to Environmental Citizenship. Environmental Citizenship has been an influential con- cept in many different arenas such as economy, policy, philosophy, corporation management and marketing, which could also be better exploited and established in the field of education. Environmental Citizenship is recognized as an important aspect in addressing global environmental problems such as climate change (Stern 2011; Ockwell et al. 2009) whilst providing support to pro-environmental organisa- tions and individuals, contributing also to public pressure for political action (sign- ing petitions, writing to politicians and newspapers). Many varied definitions of Environmental Citizenship can be found within the literature. Some of them are quite similar, and important overlaps can be observed; however, others can be quite different with contradictions in their philosophy and approach. According to Dobson (2010), Environmental Citizenship refers to pro-environmental behaviour, in public and in private, driven by a belief in fairness of the distribution of environmental goods, in participation and in the co-creation of sustainability policy. It is about the active participation of citizens in moving towards sustainability. Education and especially environmental discourses in science education have a lot to contribute in adopting and promoting Environmental Citizenship. However, the conceptualisation of Environmental Citizenship in educational context remains an imperative need. The under-explored (until now) potential for pro-environmental behaviour change through Environmental Citizenship should be further emphasised (Dobson 2010) and can contribute greatly to a more sustainable world.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The effectiveness of e-Learning on biosecurity practice to slow the spread of invasive alien species

Online e-Learning is increasingly being used to provide environmental training. Prevention measures including biosecurity are essential to reducing the introduction and spread of invasive alien species (IAS) and are central to international and national IAS policy. This paper is the first to evaluate the effectiveness of e-Learning as a tool to increase awareness, risk perception and biosecurity behaviour in relation to IAS among individuals conducting work activities or research (fieldwork) in the field. We surveyed participants (a mixture of students and professionals) before, and 6 months after undertaking an e-Learning course on IAS and biosecurity practices. Awareness of IAS and self-reported biosecurity behaviour increased after e-Learning among students and professionals. Students had a lower awareness of IAS than professionals before training (20% of students vs 60% of professionals), but after training students showed a greater increase in awareness which led to similar levels of awareness post-training (81%). Prior to training, risk perception was also lower amongst students than professionals (33% of students and 59% of professionals were aware of the risk that their activities posed to the accidental spread of IAS). There was no change in risk perception amongst professionals after training, however training led to a doubling of risk perception in students. E-Learning also led to an increase in reported biosecurity behaviour and cleaning practices and there were higher levels of biosecurity cleaning amongst professionals. The higher awareness and better biosecurity amongst professionals is likely to reflect their familiarity with the issues of IAS and day-to-day activities in the field. Our results suggest that e-Learning is an effective tool to raise awareness and encourage behaviour change among field workers and researchers in an attempt to reduce the risk of accidental introduction and spread of IAS

Recycling Attitudes and Behavior among a Clinic-Based Sample of Low-Income Hispanic Women in Southeast Texas

We examined attitudes and behavior surrounding voluntary recycling in a population of low-income Hispanic women. Participants (N = 1,512) 18–55 years of age completed a self-report survey and responded to questions regarding household recycling behavior, recycling knowledge, recycling beliefs, potential barriers to recycling (transportation mode, time), acculturation, demographic characteristics (age, income, employment, marital status, education, number of children, birth country), and social desirability. Forty-six percent of participants (n = 810) indicated that they or someone else in their household recycled. In a logistic regression model controlling for social desirability, recycling behavior was related to increased age (P<0.05), lower acculturation (P<0.01), knowing what to recycle (P<0.01), knowing that recycling saves landfill space (P<0.05), and disagreeing that recycling takes too much time (P<0.001). A Sobel test revealed that acculturation mediated the relationship between recycling knowledge and recycling behavior (P<0.05). We offer new information on recycling behavior among Hispanic women and highlight the need for educational outreach and intervention strategies to increase recycling behavior within this understudied population

Education for Environmental Citizenship and Responsible Environmental Behaviour

The notion of Environmental Citizenship embodies behaviour – an actively involved citizen who exercises his/her environmental rights and obligations in the private and public spheres. Education for Environmental Citizenship implies behavioural change; its goal is to facilitate an individual’s intellectual growth (cognitive domain) and emotional capacity (affective domain) that may lead to a critical and actively engaged individual. Human behaviour is overwhelmingly sophisticated, and what shapes pro-environmental behaviour is complex and context specific. Furthermore, empirical research indicates a discrepancy between possessing environmental knowledge and environmentally supportive attitudes and behaving pro-environmentally. The point of departure of this chapter is that the social and psychological study of behaviour has much to inform the study of environmental behaviour and, deriving from this, to inform regarding the type of education towards behaviour/action in the goal of sustainable socioecological transformation. The chapter focuses on internal (psychosocial) factors. It presents selected models regarding factors influencing behavioural decisions that are acknowledged as influential theoretical frameworks for investigating pro-environmental behaviour, as well as various theories that inform these models. These are categorised into knowledge-based models; attitude-, value- and norm-oriented models; skills, self-efficacy and situational factors; and new approaches to environmental behaviour models. The chapter concludes with suggestions for Education for Environmental Citizenship deriving from the various models