Why self-proclaimed environmentalists commit non sustainable behaviors?: Using normative motivation to understand personal attitudes and choices

Author(s): Letty Y.-Y. Kwan [sup.1] , Yu Sheng Hung [sup.2] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.437123.0, 0000 0004 1794 8068, The University of Macau, , Avenida da Universidade, Taipa, Macau, China (2) [...]
Our behaviors are often inconsistent with our attitudes. In the current Study, we took a norm approach to understand why car owners continue to use private cars despite their support for environmentalism. In an experience sampling study, a large representative sample of 610 commuters from a megacity participated in a 2-part study. In the first part, they completed measures of their pro-environmental attitudes and their beliefs about society's perception of users using transportation types. After ten days, they recorded their commute behaviors on every trip they made over seven days (including a public holiday, four workdays, and a weekend). The results, which included recorded trips from 193 car owners, showed that car owners with strong pro-environmental attitudes used their cars more often when motivated by intersubjective norms. Interestingly, the results were reversed when car owners with strong pro-environmental attitudes were motivated by personal norms. The results concluded that pro-environmental attitudes alone could not predict pro-environment behaviors; instead, activating one's norms or changing one's perceived intersubjective norms are needed alongside strong pro-environmental attitudes to change one car driving behaviors.