Abstract
The current study assessed emotional responses and emotion regulation strategies to the climate crisis, and their relationship to pro-environmental behaviour cross-sectionally using self-report online surveys. 1307 participants were recruited through convenience sampling from six European countries, alongside a distinct sample of 1040 participants representative of age, sex, and ethnicity in the United States. Our findings replicated the well-known association that stronger negative emotions to the climate crisis are associated with more pro-environmental behaviour. The relationship between climate emotions and pro-environmental behaviour was moderated by resignation in the US sample, by cognitive reappraisal and other-blame in the European sample and mediated by rumination in both samples. Furthermore, latent profiles of emotional responses were identified. In both samples, there was one distinct class demonstrating strong climate emotions, and a group with very low or no climate emotions (alongside with two/three groups with moderate emotional intensity in the European and the US samples, respectively). Findings also revealed that members of the emotional group were more likely to take climate action and tend to engage more in emotion regulation than the unemotional group. Our results highlight the crucial role of emotions and emotion regulation strategies in mitigating the climate crisis by taking pro-environmental action.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 102327 |
Journal | Journal of Environmental Psychology |
Volume | 96 |
Early online date | 29 May 2024 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 30 Jun 2024 |
Externally published | Yes |
Data Availability Statement
Data and analysis scripts are available at https://osf.io/uzfer/?view_only=0769d9dc5ca247ce9bd2272b58d19ce3.Funding
This work was supported by the Hungarian National Research, Development and Innovation Office [grant number K143764] and the Faculty of Education and Psychology, ELTE, Eotvos Lorand University, Budapest, Hungary. GK was supported by the Hungarian Brain Research Program [grant number 2017-1.2.1-NKP-2017-00002] and the Hungarian Brain Research Program 3.0 [grant number NAP2022-I-4/2022]. Funding sources were not involved in study design; in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; and in the decision to submit the article for publication.
Funders | Funder number |
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Eötvös Loránd Tudományegyetem | |
Nemzeti Kutatási Fejlesztési és Innovációs Hivatal | K143764 |
Nemzeti Kutatási Fejlesztési és Innovációs Hivatal | |
Hungarian Brain Research Program | 2017-1.2.1-NKP-2017-00002 |
Hungarian Brain Research Program 3.0 | NAP2022-I-4/2022 |
Keywords
- Climate action
- Climate crisis
- Eco distress
- Emotion regulation
- Environmentally friendly behaviour
- Global warming
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Social Psychology
- Applied Psychology