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Highlights • Place attachment is shaped by different psychological processes. • Environmental worldviews are a basis for the motivation-attachment relationship. • Preference heterogeneity is accounted for by engagement in (non)consumptive activity. • Options are identified for environmental management agencies to foster stewardship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The participation of local communities in management decisions is critically important to the long-term salience and therefore, success, of protected areas. Engaging community members in meaningful ways requires knowledge of their behavior and its antecedents, particularly values. Understanding how learning influences cooperation in conservation initiatives is also fundamentally important for supporting decisions being made about public lands. However, there is little empirical evidence of how learning from different information sources works in conjunction with values that shape behavior. Using data from a household survey of residents living in the Denali region of Interior Alaska, U.S, we estimated a two-step structural equation model to understand the psychological reasons why stakeholders made decisions to collectively benefit the environment. Results showed that more diverse pathways by which learning occurred were instrumental in explaining why residents performed pro-environmental behaviors over the past year. Additionally, values that reflected the goals of eudaimonia influenced the transfer and negotiation of knowledge exchange among stakeholders as a correlate of behavior. Environmental concern and personal norms were positively associated with reported behaviors operationalized as social environmentalism and living in an environmentally conscientious manner, whereas environmental concern and willingness to pay for protected area management positively influenced civic engagement. We argue that broadening the range of learning spaces and considering a more diverse array of values in communities surrounding protected areas will encourage daily lifestyle changes, social interactions to support environmentalism, and more robust, pluralistic forms of public engagement in natural resource management. • Pro-environmental behavior is informative for public land management decision-making. • Values work in conjunction with norms, concern, and attitudes to predict behavior. • Eudaimonic values explained how and why social learning occurred. • More diverse pathways of social learning improve knowledge of reported behavior. • Iterative spaces that energize dialogue between residents and agencies is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two related approaches to valuing nature have been advanced in past research including the study of ecosystem services and psychological investigations of the factors that shape behavior. Stronger integration of the insights that emerge from these two lines of enquiry can more effectively sustain ecosystems, economies, and human well-being. Drawing on survey data collected from outdoor recreationists on Santa Cruz Island within Channel Islands National Park, U.S., our study blends these two research approaches to examine a range of tangible and intangible values of ecosystem services provided to stakeholders with differing biocentric and anthropocentric worldviews. We used Public Participation Geographic Information System methods to collect survey data and a Social Values for Ecosystem Services mapping application to spatially analyze a range of values assigned to terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems in the park. Our results showed that preferences for the provision of biological diversity, recreation, and scientific-based values of ecosystem services varied across a spatial gradient. We also observed differences that emerged from a comparison between survey subgroups defined by their worldviews. The implications emanating from this investigation aim to support environmental management decision-making in the context of protected areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Theoretical advances in research on the antecedents of human behavior have offered promising explanations for why people choose to undertake environmentally friendly action. This investigation provides further insight on the psychological processes driving self-reported behavioral engagement among visitors to Channel Islands National Park in the United States. We used latent variable structural equation modeling to test the hypothesized structure stipulated by the value-belief-norm (VBN) theory of environmentalism. Biospheric-altruistic values geared toward non-human species and concern for other people positively predicted environmental worldview and pro-environmental behavior, whereas egoistic values negatively influenced moral norm activation. Consistent with previous research, findings also showed that belief structures and personal moral norms gave rise to conservation behaviors reported by visitors to the park. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Understanding the transactions that occur between humans and their environments requires research focused on phenomena that explain behavioral patterns, particularly values that serve as guiding principles in life. Mounting evidence has suggested that pro-environmental behavior is motivated by the long-term goal of living a meaningful life, as reflected by Aristotle's concept of eudaimonia. However, the relationships among value concepts, particularly eudaimonic values, remains unclear despite the fundamental role that these constructs play in explaining why people make behavioral decisions. We conceptualized eudaimonic values with guidance from Self-Determination Theory to understand how a suite of values affected pro-environmental behavior reported by recreational anglers (n = 1,103) across five US states (Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, New York, Indiana) in the Great Lakes region. Results from a latent variable path model showed that eudaimonic values were strong predictors of biospheric, altruistic, egoistic, and hedonic values, which in turn, influenced self-reported behavior among recreational anglers who were at risk of spreading aquatic invasive species. These findings suggest that eudaimonic values are an antecedent to values-behavior relationships and can improve the predictive capacity of models being developed to inform management strategies for minimizing human activities that are contributing to the unintentional spread of aquatic invasive species. • Eudaimonia can be operationalized as a higher order value focused on living a meaningful life. • Eudaimonic values do not directly predict pro-environmental behavior. • Eudaimonic values are antecedents to other value concepts. • Values are a basis for understanding behavior related to biological invasions. • Fishery managers across five U.S. states would benefit from knowledge of angler values and behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A rich body of empirical research has posited pride and guilt are psychological forces that affect pro-environmental behavior, yet there is conflicting evidence about how these emotional concepts shape pro-environmental behavior. We report on results from the first meta-analysis that has evaluated the associations of pride and guilt in relation to pro-environmental behavior over a 30-year period. An analysis of 23 correlational studies showed that anticipated pride (r = 0.47) and anticipated guilt (r = 0.39) were significantly correlated with intended and reported pro-environmental behavior, and that anticipated pride had a stronger relationship with behavior than guilt. Results from 12 experimental studies indicated that pride (r = 0.17) and guilt (r = 0.26) were equally strong in their ability to explain variation in pro-environmental behavior. Additionally, a moderator analysis revealed that in experimental studies the effects of both anticipated pride and guilt were significantly correlated with pro-environmental behavior but did not differ from one another, whereas only experienced guilt (and not pride) predicted intended and reported actions. These findings underscore the importance of cumulating previous research to systematically understand the mechanisms that shape patterns of pro-environmental behavior. • Pride and guilt were significantly related to reported and intended pro-environmental behavior. • In correlational research, anticipated pride was more strongly correlated with behavior than anticipated guilt. • Anticipated pride and guilt had equal effects on pro-environmental behavior in experimental research. • Experienced guilt had stronger effects on pro-environmental behavior than experienced pride in experimental research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non-native grasses used as forage for domestic livestock can negatively impact ecosystem services provided by grasslands. In the U.S., most grazed grasslands are privately owned so the introduction and reduction of non-native grasses are both driven by landowner behavior. Yet, the social factors that shape non-native grass management are rarely explored. To address this knowledge gap, we evaluated how decisions to reduce these grasses through practices such as herbicide application, prescribed fire, and physical removal are influenced by attitudes, norms, and perceived ability. We administered a mixed mode (mailback and online) survey in 2017 to landowners in the eastern Great Plains of the U.S., in a region where cattle production remains the predominant land-use. Using structural equation modeling with parceling, we tested hypotheses related to management decisions derived from a model integrating two theories – the Theory of Planned Behavior and the Norm Activation Model. In this analysis, we identified perceived ability (i.e., access to time, skills, or other necessary resources) as a barrier to adoption for landowners who were already willing to manage non-native grasses. Positive attitudes toward management and increased social norm pressures were both associated with increased sentiments of moral responsibility to reduce non-native grasses. These personal norms, together with attitudes, positively influenced willingness to control non-native grasses. Further, we observed that social norms related to expectations of neighbors had more influence on personal norms than the social norms from natural resource agencies. The power of norms to explain individual management decisions suggests that landowners could be engaged in landscape-scale initiatives by leveraging moral responsibility and influential social groups. • We conducted a mixed-mode landowner survey about non-native grass management. • Attitudes, resource access, and personal and social norms predicted management. • A sense of moral responsibility was a major driver of decisions on private lands. • Activating norms and providing access to equipment facilitates cooperative management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Decision-making processes to ensure sustainability of complex agro-ecosystems must simultaneously accommodate production goals, environmental soundness, and social relevancy. This means that besides environmental indicators and human activities, stakeholders' perceptions need to be considered in the decision-making process to enable the adoption of mitigation practices. Thus, the decision-making process equates to a multi-criteria and multi-objective problem, requiring additional tools and methods to analyze the possible tradeoffs among decision alternatives based on social acceptability. This study was aimed at establishing a decision support system that integrates hydro-ecologic models and socio-cultural perspectives to identify and assess feasible land management alternatives that can enhance the Kaskaskia River Watershed (KRW) ecosystem services in Illinois (USA). The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) was used to simulate the spatio-temporal response of nine environmental predictors to four major management alternatives (crop rotation, cover cropping, reduced tillage, modified fertilizer application) based on stakeholder acceptability and environmental soundness, under 32 distinct climate projections. The stochastic multicriteria acceptability analysis (SMAA) was then applied to classify the management alternatives from the least to the most efficient based on three preference schemes: no preference, expert stakeholders' preference, and non-expert stakeholders' preference. Results showed that preference information on watershed ecosystem services is crucial to guide the decision-making process when a broad spectrum of criteria is considered to assess the management alternatives' systemic response. The disparity between expert and non-expert stakeholders' preferences showed different rankings of alternatives across several subcatchments, where the two-year corn one-year soybean rotation scheme was expected to offer the best management alternative to ensure a sustainable agro-production system in the highly cultivated subcatchments of the KRW. In contrast, non-conventional tillage practices were expected to contravene agricultural production, and therefore should be discarded unless combined with complementary measures. This study will enable stakeholders to identify the most suitable management practices to adapt to natural and anthropogenic changes and encourage engagement between government institutions and local communities (multi-stakeholder consensus) to provide a better platform for decision-making. • Land-use decision-making must accommodate production goals, environmental soundness, and social relevancy. • Preference information on watershed ecosystem services is crucial to guide the decision-making process. • Stakeholders preference disparity denotes information gaps within decision-makers and local communities. • Crop rotation expected to ensure a sustainable agro-production system in highly cultivated catchments. • Non-conventional tillage expected to contravene crop yields if not combined with complementary measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]