What Do Carbon Labels Signal? The Role of Biospheric Values on Perceptions of “Green” Food Consumers

Costly signaling theory suggests that individuals might be more likely to consume sustainable food products if doing so signals an underlying prosocial value to others. However, it is unclear whether prosocial signals are equally interpreted by others. We study whether consumers of carbon-labeled (vs. non carbon-labeled) products are perceived more positively and if observers’ biospheric values and product prices influence such perceptions. An experimental study (N = 229) assessed participants’ perceptions of consumers of carbon and non-carbon labeled food products described as being either cheaper or more-expensive-than-average. Results indicated that consumers of carbon-labeled products were perceived more positively and that such perceptions were accentuated when observers strongly endorsed biospheric values. Further, positive perceptions of consumers occurred regardless of a product’s price, although effects were strongest amongst observers with high biospheric value endorsement when products were cheap and carbon-labeled. Implications for carbon labeling initiatives and food marketing more generally are discussed

The evolutionary psychology of climate change behaviors:Insights and applications

We examine climate-related activities through an evolutionary psychology lens, zooming in on factors that motivate or discourage people to behave sustainably to mitigate climate change. Complementing current knowledge, we discuss five core ancestral psychological motivations that shape people's environmental decisions in fundamental ways. We review recent studies that explore how evolved psychological mechanisms related to self-interest, status, sensing, discounting tendencies, and social imitation can be used to promote proenvironmental behavior. We discuss the potential strengths and limitations of evolutionary-based behavioral interventions and briefly reflect on outstanding research questions that can further the integration of evolutionary approaches into mainstream environmental psychology

Reducing the Gap Between Pro-Environmental Disposition and Behavior:The Role of Feeling Power

Environmental issues are some of the most pressing threats the world is facing nowadays. In this context, motivating individual pro-environmental behavior becomes highly relevant. One strategy is to harness people's pro-environmental dispositions (e.g., biospheric values, pro-environmental attitudes). Although acknowledging the need to behave pro-environmentally lies at the core of these dispositions, the extent to which they are reflected in day-to-day pro-environmental practices fluctuates to a great extent. How to bridge this gap between dispositions and behaviors in pro-environmentalism? This research tests a novel psychological solution, that is, to heighten subjective feelings of power. Power depicts people's control over their own and others’ outcomes. Two studies (total N = 338, with n = 200 in Study 1 and n = 138 in Study 2) manipulated people's situational sense of high versus low power (by recalling and writing about relevant incidents), measured pro-environmental dispositions (biospheric values in Studies 1 and 2; attitude toward a specific environmental cause in Study 2), and examined their effects on pro-environmental behaviors (spending time on environmental persuasion in Study 1 and spending money on environmental donation in Study 2). Overall, both studies revealed that pro-environmental dispositions predicted pro-environmental behaviors, but only when the actors were prompted to experience a high instead of a low sense of power. The findings illuminate power as an important and viable communication tactic—to orient people toward their dispositions and practice what they preach in pro-environmentalism

Is green the new sexy? Romantic benefits of conspicuous conservation

© 2020 The Author(s)Conspicuous conservation refers to pro-environmental activities that are intended as signals of some attractive quality of the actor. As some of these qualities are desirable in romantic partners, people may purchase green products or services to impress potential romantic partners. We propose that conspicuous conservation communicates generosity – a trait that is especially valued in long-term romantic partners. Two studies tested whether people's sustainable product preferences influence how they are perceived as romantic partners (Study 1), and whether actual product preferences are aligned with these perceptions (Study 2). Results from Study 1 suggest that people presented as having purchased green products are perceived as more generous and more attractive as long-term – but also short-term – romantic partners. Results from Study 2 suggest that individuals primed to think about a romantic context are no more likely to prefer sustainable products, suggesting an actor-observer discrepancy that potentially adds to the honesty of the conspicuous conservation signal. The potential communicative value of conspicuous conservation is discussed in relation to the literature on costly signaling, sexual selection, and green marketing

Autoafirmación y prejuicio: una perspectiva de autovalidación

58 p.La literatura tradicional del prejuicio lo ha vinculado con la motivación de las personas por mantener un sentido de integridad del self. De esta forma, frente a potenciales amenazas al self, las personas pueden afirmarse en aspectos asociados a su propia identidad y no relacionados con el objeto de prejuicio, aumentando la aceptación de mensajes amenazantes y miembros de otros grupos. En el presente trabajo se propone que la autoafirmación reduce las actitudes negativas hacia una persona porque otorga validez a un tipo de pensamiento no relacionado con el objeto de juicio. En concreto, el aspecto individual de uno mismo. No obstante, cuando el pensamiento accesible para las personas no es sobre uno mismo, sino acerca del grupo, la afirmación del yo permitirá a las personas dar mayor validez a esta nueva etiqueta, llevando a las personas a guiar sus juicios con base en ella. Concretamente, mostrar más prejuicio. De manera inversa, un procedimiento que permita reducir la percepción de protección del yo debería generar mayor invalidación del pensamiento. En este caso, cuando el pensamiento invalidado es el yo en el ámbito individual, menor es la probabilidad de que éste sea usado para guiar los juicios posterior, llevando a evaluaciones más negativas del objeto de juicio. En cambio invalidar la categoría de juicio que permite a las personas decidir su evaluación (i.e., el grupo) llevará a mayor prejuicio que una condición de control. Mediante un experimento de diseño factorial se obtuvieron resultados que convergen con las hipótesis planteadas. Se discuten los resultados en función de las diversas explicaciones de los efectos de la afirmación del self y la idoneidad de la perspectiva de autovalidación para comprenderlos.Palabras Claves: Prejuicio, Autoafirmación, Hipótesis de Autovalidació

Promoting energy sources as environmentally friendly:does it increase public acceptability?

Environmental frames are widely used in an effort to increase public support for energy sources in the sustainable energy transition. Research suggests that environmental frames are most effective when they are congruent with people's biospheric values. Yet, this value-congruence account has been mainly tested for promoting behaviors, policies or products that have clear environmental benefits. But what if they do not? For example, what if energy sources are promoted as green but are not seen as such by the public? We extend the value-congruence account by proposing that besides the congruence between the frames and biospheric values, it is important to consider how much the products themselves are congruent with environmental frames and biospheric values. We tested this novel value-frame-product account by evaluating the effectiveness of environmental frames (versus financial frames) on the acceptability of energy sources that are typically seen as high, moderate, and low in environmental friendliness, and depending on how strongly people endorse biospheric values. Overall, the results supported none of the congruence accounts, suggesting that matching frames (and products) with people's values might be less effective in enhancing acceptability of products than previously thought. Instead, environmental framing increased the acceptability of all energy sources, independent of people's biospheric values and the perceived environmental friendliness of those energy sources. Moreover, highly environmentally friendly energy sources were more acceptable and evaluated more positively, especially among people who strongly endorsed biospheric values. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of our study

Educational Attainment and Environmental Concern in China:An Instrumental Variable Approach

Formal education is theorised to be an essential vehicle to promote and trigger pro-environmental attitudes and behavioural changes among citizens via the increase of public awareness and concern. However, robust estimations of its causal effect on individuals’ concern for the environment are scarce. This study aimed to estimate the effect of educational attainment on environmental concern in China, addressing the problem of endogeneity. China is the largest emitter of CO2 and faces severe environmental problems due to its rapid process of industrialisation and urbanisation. The findings show that educational attainment has a robust positive causal effect on environmental concern in China. After addressing potential endogeneity issues using an instrumental variable approach, the effect is stronger than a conventional ordinal least squares estimation. Thus, education is a crucial path of action to promote environmental concern and subsequent pro-environmental behaviour in China

Effects of frailty status on happiness and life satisfaction:The mediating role of self-perceived health

During the past decade, the frail syndrome has acquired great importance due to its detrimental social and psychological consequences. In the present study, we investigate the association between frailty status and well-being (happiness and life satisfaction) among older adults, and we test the role of self-perceived health as potential mediator in such relations. We recruited 1205 older Chilean adults who responded to measures about their objective health status (frailtyrelated indicators), well-being, and self-perceived health. Overall, path analyses showed that frailty status is negatively associated to life satisfaction and happiness, and that self-perceived health works as a mediator for such relations. The social and psychological consequences of the frail syndrome in older adults are discussed

Georeferencia, calidad de vida y territorialidad

66 p.La Calidad de vida como indicador de bienestar es un concepto que ha logrado gran influencia durante los últimos años (Royuela, Lambiri y Biagi, 2006). En su calidad de indicador, el constructo supone un instrumento para la generación y evaluación de políticas públicas orientadas a satisfacer diferentes aspectos del bienestar de la población. Sin embargo, el desarrollo y crecimiento que ha venido logrando nuestro país exige cada vez más información acerca del comportamiento y distribución de los fenómenos sociales con el fin de propiciar la creación de políticas atingentes a la realidad nacional. En este trabajo se propone que una herramienta de utilidad para satisfacer esta exigencia es la georeferenciación, que permite observar la distribución de la calidad de vida en un espacio o territorio determinado. Además, que la localización geográfica de la calidad de vida de una persona permitirá evaluar si existen diferencias en este constructo de acuerdo al lugar de residencia. Sobre una muestra de 149 personas se aplicó un sistema de georeferenciación de su calidad de vida (medida por un cuestionario), el cual generó un mapa de la distribución del constructo en la ciudad de Talca. No obstante, los análisis por grupo no mostraron diferencias significativas en la Calidad de Vida de las personas según la zona geográfica en que viven. Se proponen explicaciones a estos resultados y discute acerca de la utilidad de este tipo de medidas y herramientas en la generación de políticas públicas. Palabras Claves: Calidad de Vida - Indicadores Sociales - Geomática - Georeferencia

Effects of Voice Pitch on Social Perceptions Vary With Relational Mobility and Homicide Rate

Fundamental frequency ( fo) is the most perceptually salient vocal acoustic parameter, yet little is known about how its perceptual influence varies across societies. We examined how fo affects key social perceptions and how socioecological variables modulate these effects in 2,647 adult listeners sampled from 44 locations across 22 nations. Low male fo increased men’s perceptions of formidability and prestige, especially in societies with higher homicide rates and greater relational mobility in which male intrasexual competition may be more intense and rapid identification of high-status competitors may be exigent. High female fo increased women’s perceptions of flirtatiousness where relational mobility was lower and threats to mating relationships may be greater. These results indicate that the influence of fo on social perceptions depends on socioecological variables, including those related to competition for status and mates