This programme of research was focused on developing a better understanding of pro-environmental behaviours and pro-environmental behaviour change, with consideration of the powerful effect of habits in thinking, affect and behaviour. Habit networks are discussed with reference to HOT topics (Habits, Opportunities and Thoughts), and explored empirically within the context of the FIT Framework (Fletcher & Stead, 2000). This programme of research started with a literature review on established models of pro-environmental behaviour. It found a large degree of similarity in the approaches used to conceptualise pro-environmental behaviour, and suggested the need to explore pro-environmental activity from different perspectives. The FIT Framework was then presented as an alternative approach. FIT variables measure the strength of an individual's cognitive characteristics and their degree of behavioural flexibility using the FIT Profiler (Fletcher, 1999). The empirical studies presented in this programme of research suggest that levels of personal FITness are related to engagement with pro-environmental activity and the extent to which lifestyles are environmentally sustainable. Study 1 (N = 325) explored the relationships between FITness and measures of pro-environmental activity, and Study 2 (N = 134) sought to confirm these relationships in a different sample. Both studies found positive relationships between levels of personal FITness and pro-environmental activity. Based on these results, it was suggested that FIT offers a useful alternative framework to study pro-environmental activity. Studies 3 (N = 75) and 4 (N = 100) considered the performance of pro-environmental behaviours in different sites of practice, as follow-up to the differences that emerged in Studies 1 and 2. They also explored the perceived influence of intrinsic and extrinsic variables on energy saving in home and work settings. The results suggested that the pro-environmental behaviours that are performed at home are often not transferred to the workplace and this might be because extrinsic factors in an organisational setting constrain action. Higher levels of personal FITness helped to align behaviours with intrinsic beliefs; individuals with higher levels of FITness behaved as they felt they ought to, whereas individuals with lower levels of FITness behaved as they were told to. It was suggested, therefore, that higher levels of FITness might support behavioural consistency across contexts. Study 5 (N = 95) explored the extent to which pro-environmental behaviours are characterised by habit and how the strength of habit changes according to level of personal FITness. The results suggested that people act pro-environmentally within distinct behaviour categories and this has little or no bearing on their propensity to behave in an environmentally friendly way in other areas. Habits can have a positive influence on the performance of pro-environmental behaviour but a negative influence on behaviour change. The empirical results suggest that a higher level of FITness might help people to engage more readily with pro-environmental behaviours that are performed less frequently. It was, therefore, suggested that developing levels of personal FITness might help individuals to extend their behavioural repertoire and be sufficiently flexible to include more pro-environmental behaviours, including those that are, at present, characterised less by habit. A second literature review on interventions for pro-environmental behaviour change found that many techniques have been developed from the perspective of bounded rationality and have assumed that the provision of information will initiate behaviour change. These approaches are often ineffective because of the resistive effects of habit. In light of this and the findings of the empirical studies, a FIT-based behaviour change intervention, named here as Do Something Greener, was developed as an alternative approach to address directly the problem of habit. Overall, this programme of research suggests that the influence of habits, opportunities, and thoughts should be considered in the study of pro-environmental activity. Further research exploring the effectiveness of Do Something Greener for pro-environmental behaviour change is necessary and planned as the next step in this programme of research. By exploring pro-environmental behaviour from a different perspective, it is hoped that this programme of research has also challenged some of the habitual tendencies that researchers are themselves starting to develop in relation to the study of pro-environmental behaviour, and that it has added a degree of eclecticism and pragmatism to psychological approaches to pro-environmental behaviour change. It is hoped that this will help to set a more practically oriented agenda for future research.

Energy is largely invisible to users. It has been argued that employing technologies to visualise energy will assist people in conserving energy. Energy visibility interventions have largely focussed on appliance use and electricity consumption. This thesis aims to firstly explore whether making heat visible, using thermal images, promotes heat (and thereby energy) conservation. Secondly using a multiple method approach, it explores how. Five studies were employed. Study One and Three investigated whether using thermal images as a tailored antecedent intervention would promote energy conservation behaviours. The results confirmed that the images led to a reduction in Kg CO2 emissions attributed to domestic energy use. Study One and Three indicated that householders undertook more energy saving behaviours in relation to those aspects that were visible in the images. These actions were attributed to simple, energy saving behaviours such as proofing draughts. Study Two investigated how people make sense of the images and how behaviours are promoted by the images. Study two suggested that the images provide a unique medium through which factors which contribute to energy saving can be combined and reasoned by the viewer. It suggests the psychological factors in a pathway from prompt to behaviour. Study Four established that showing the images in an information presentation was not as effective when influencing participants’ ideas about energy conservation. Finally, Study Five explored participants gaze and demonstrated how features of the images, can attract the viewer. The novel contribution of this thesis is in establishing that ‘making heat visible’ through a tailored thermal imaging prompt can increase the likelihood of a householder taking simple energy saving actions, by providing a novel medium through which householders attend to heat and energy use.

As community gardens (CGs) become increasingly popular, it is timely to investigate whether they further sustainability goals. Underpinning my research were questions like why people get involved in CGs, what benefits they derive, what they learn from gardening, and how governance facilitates that learning. Through interviews with gardeners, my data show that key benefits of gardening included building community, environmental protection, improved health, and resisting the industrialization of food. CG membership also facilitated learning in all three domains of Transformative Learning: communicative, instrumental, and transformation. Learning outcomes included gardening skills, improved insight into self and others, and increased prevalence of pro-environmental perspectives. The primary source of learning was interaction with other gardeners. CG involvement may contribute to sustainability by providing an environment which allows people to connect with nature, learn from others (if governance, garden organization, and social capital are strong), and choose more pro-environmental behaviours. / May 2016

A adoção de práticas sustentáveis desde à produção de alimentos até o consumo final tem sido mais frequente nos últimos anos. Essas práticas sustentáveis estão embasadas na promoção do desenvolvimento sustentável, sem prejudicar as gerações futuras da humanidade. Nesse contexto, os proprietários das agroindústrias familiares se deparam com diversos desafios quando se trata da diminuição de impactos ambientais e, em consequência, da promoção do desenvolvimento rural sustentável. A adoção de práticas sustentáveis é resultado da compreensão da consciência ambiental e dos valores humanos, os quais desencadeiam as atitudes pró-ambientais e, assim, resulta em um comportamento ecológico. Neste sentido, objetivou-se analisar a influência da consciência ambiental e dos valores humanos sobre as atitudes pró-ambientais dos proprietários das agroindústrias familiares vinculadas ao PEAF/RS. Os dados foram coletados por meio da aplicação de questionário, com quatro grupos de questões (perfil das agroindústrias familiares e atitudes pró-ambientais, Escala NEP, perfil socioeconômico, Escala Schwartz). A amostra corresponde aos 105 proprietários de agroindústrias familiares do Rio Grande do Sul. Os dados foram analisados utilizando estatística descritiva, analise fatorial e correlação. Os resultados apresentam que mais da metade da amostra é composta por adultos, com grau de escolaridade elevado e com formação em cursos voltados para a gestão da agroindústria Além disso, 37% das agroindústrias familiares têm um tempo de existência entre um a cinco anos, com mão de obra familiar e com atividades predominantes em olericultura, bebidas e panificados, nas cidades de Caxias do Sul, Santa Maria e Lajeado. A aplicação das escalas, demonstrou que os proprietários das agroindústrias familiares possuem um nível elevado de consciência ambiental, com predominância nos valores humanos de ordem superior “conservação” e “autotranscendência”. Tais resultados revelam uma tendência de possuir um comportamento ecocêntrico e altruísta, conforme a Escala NEP e Schwartz, respectivamente. Além disso, observou-se que as agroindústrias familiares têm atitudes pró-ambientais, as quais são implantadas e praticadas pela agroindústria. De modo geral, 40% dos proprietários das agroindústrias acreditam que o empreendimento tem mais de 80% de atividades pró-ambientais, tais como, o uso de embalagens recicláveis, a prática de conscientização ambiental, a economia de energia, o uso correto do descarte dos resíduos sólidos. Porém não foi encontrado correlação entre as escalas e as atitudes pró-ambientais. Portanto, entende-se que esses resultados auxiliam as esferas federativas na formulação de uma política de benefícios, motivando-os aqueles que possuem mais adequação à preservação ambiental e incentivando outros proprietários a praticarem mais ações ambientais. / The adoption of sustainable practices from food production to final consumption has been more frequent in recent years. These sustainable practices are based on the promotion of sustainable development, without harming future generations of humanity. In this context, the owners of family agroindustries face several challenges when it comes to reducing environmental impacts and, as a consequence, promoting sustainable rural development. The adoption of sustainable practices is the result of an understanding of environmental awareness and human values, which triggers pro-environmental attitudes and thus results in ecological behavior. In this sense, the objective was to analyze the influence of environmental awareness and human values on the pro-environmental attitudes of the owners of family agroindustries linked to PEAF/RS. Data were collected through the application of a questionnaire, with four groups of questions (profile of family agroindustries and pro-environmental attitudes, NEP Scale, socioeconomic profile, Schwartz Scale). The sample corresponds to the 105 owners of family agroindustries in Rio Grande do Sul. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, factorial analysis and correlation. The results show that more than half of the sample is composed of adults, with a high level of education and training in courses aimed at the management of agribusiness. In addition, 37% of family agroindustries have a life span of between one and five years, with family labor and predominant activities in olericultura, beverages and baked goods, in the cities of Caxias do Sul, Santa Maria and Lajeado The application of the scales, showed that the owners of the family agroindustries have a high level of environmental awareness, with a predominance of human values of higher order "conservation" and "self-transcendence". These results reveal a tendency to have an ecocentric and altruistic behavior, according to the NEP and Schwartz Scales, respectively. In addition, it was observed that family agroindustries have pro-environmental attitudes, which are implemented and practiced by the agroindustry. In general, 40% of the owners of agroindustries believe that the enterprise has more than 80% of pro-environmental activities, such as the use of recyclable packaging, the practice of environmental awareness, energy saving, the correct use of waste of solid waste. However, no correlation was found between the scales and the pro-environmental attitudes. Therefore, it is understood that these results help federative spheres in the formulation of a benefits policy, motivating those that are more adequate to environmental preservation and encouraging other owners to practice more environmental actions.

Despite the increasing attention being paid to waste recycling, there is a dearth of both empirical evidence on recycling at work and examination of any spillover effects of recycling behaviour from home to work. Situated at the confluence of three social science debates (the study of recycling set within the waste management literature; the examination of spillover in the social psychology literature, and the work on pro-environmental behaviour at work in the organisational behaviour literature), this research seeks to understand recycling at work and the relationship between recycling behaviour at home and recycling at work using a sequential mixed methods approach. Due to the complexity of human behaviours including the heterogeneity of the factors underpinning recycling, this research adopts a sequential mixed methods approach with its pragmatic philosophical assumptions to examine recycling at work. Initially, semi-structured interviews with 15 key informants from different organisations including environmental/waste organisations in the UK were conducted. The findings from the interviews were used along with the evidence from the literature to develop the conceptual model and the research hypotheses. The quantitative data were collected, using a web-based questionnaire survey, from 367 respondents representing 43 different organisations across the UK. The collected quantitative data were analysed using SPSS for windows and IBM AMOS for path and causal analyses. Based on the findings, this research demonstrates that contextual factors such as organisational support are better determinants of recycling at work than personality/psychological factors such as attitudes that have dominated empirical and theoretical studies on pro-environmental behaviours for decades. Also, the findings of this research suggest that the concept of spillover of recycling from home to work is complex and inconsistent. Whilst there is a tendency for spillover of recycling behaviour, there is a significant difference between recycling at home and at work with regards to the volume of materials, the range of materials, and frequency of recycling. Nonetheless, the PROCESS macro allows the identification of various conditions that are likely to facilitate spillover of recycling from home to work. As a result, factors that are likely to determine recycling at work including the possible spillover of recycling from home to work are classified into personal/psychological and situational factors. These findings contribute to the existing bodies of knowledge on recycling behaviour, spillover effects, and organisational citizenship behaviour for the environment (OCBE). Also, the findings could assist businesses in finding proactive measures to increase recycling within their organisations. This would consequently reduce the total amount of resources being disposed of in the UK landfill sites.

The degradation of the environment and climate change represent some of the most important environmental issues affecting our society today, and we need to better understand what can be done in order to mitigate the negative effects of human activity on the environment. The present program of research proposes to examine, through three studies, how the frequency of pro-environmental behaviours (PEB) and harmful-environmental behaviours (HEB) are related to self-determined (SDM) and non-self-determined motivation (NSDM), stages of change (SOC), the satisfaction versus the frustration of basic psychological needs as defined by Self-Determination Theory, and nature relatedness. In Study 1 (N = 377), a scale was created to measure two distinct types of environmental behaviours, PEB and HEB, and the relationships between these types of environmental behaviours and SDM and NSDM were examined. Results demonstrated that both types of behaviours loaded on two distinct factors when conducting an exploratory factor analysis, that they were associated differently with environmental motivation, and that levels of motivation were different according to the reported frequency of adoption of PEB and HEB. In Study 2a (N = 266) and 2b (N = 529), the role of stages of change (SOC) was introduced to determine whether environmental motivation and behaviours were different across SOC and to examine whether SOC played a mediating or moderating role in the relationship between environmental motivation and behaviours. Results indicated that people in the later SOC displayed higher levels of SDM and PEB while people in the earlier stages reported higher levels of NSDM and HEB. It was also observed that SOC partially mediated the relationship between environmental motivation and behaviours. In Study 3 (N = 507) nature relatedness was compared to the satisfaction and frustration of basic psychological needs proposed by SDT to examine their respective roles in the association of motivation, SOC, PEB and HEB. Results revealed that nature relatedness was incremental to need satisfaction and frustration with regard to levels of SDM. Also, nature relatedness was an important determinant of SOC and both types of environmental behaviours. As for the proposed model, it was demonstrated that high levels of nature relatedness were associated with higher PEB and lower HEB through partial mediation by SDM and SOC, while need frustration was linked to a higher reported frequency of HEB through mediation by NSDM. Overall this thesis expands on SDT research by highlighting the importance of including HEB in conjunction with PEB and by demonstrating the prominent roles that SOC and nature relatedness could play in the motivational process associated with environmental action.

This report investigates possible health effects due to improper disposal of waste and the awareness within a community. The aim was also to investigate what is needed for a pro-environmental behavior in a rural area (Mutomo) within a developing country (Kenya). Waste management in developing countries has been and still remains a challenge, waste is left in nature and this has the potential for negative health effects on people and animals as well as degrading land and aquatic ecosystems. The used method was qualitative and for data collection in-depth interviews were conducted with help of an interpreter, interviewing guide, and a recording device. The interviews were transcribed and analyzed using NVivo and thematic analysis. The result shows that all participants were aware of the health risks connected to waste. Much concern was raised amongst the community members, especially for the children’s health. All participants had a positive attitude towards re-collecting, re-using and recycling of waste, for the community members this was if a gain of income was obtained. Also the lack of responsibility by the general public was brought up by many participants as a social norm. To conclude if pro-environmental behavior is to be reached in Mutomo there has to be; (i) available systems for the public, (ii) a collective thought of responsibility in every community member, (iii) education on the issue in three steps (knowledge, comprehension and prevention) but most importantly (iv) the living standards has to be raised for those people that are most frequently affected.

The most devastating effects of climate change may be avoided if humans reduce activities that produce greenhouse gases and engage instead in more sustainable ecological behaviors. The current mixed methods study of 279 undergraduate students explored whether environmental worldview, belief in climate change, knowledge of climate change, personal efficacy, and intention to address climate change influenced participants’ engagement in ecological behavior. Results indicated that those with a stronger intention to address climate change and a more ecocentric worldview reported significantly more ecological behavior. Next, the study examined whether participants’ intentions to address climate change mediated the relationship between their belief in climate change and engagement in ecological behavior and whether intentions mediated the relationship between efficacy and ecological behavior. Intentions to address climate change did not mediate the relationship between belief and ecological behavior but fully mediated the relationship between efficacy to address climate change and ecological behavior.

The aim of this study was to examine pre-service science teachers&rsquo / self-determined motivation toward environment and investigate how their basic psychological needs that support their self-determined motivation were fullfilled during the environmental course activities. The thesis includes two main parts: a quantitative part and a qualitative part. In the quantitative part of the study, PSTs&rsquo / motivation toward environment was measured before, after and five months later following the course activities. In the qualitative part of the study, how PSTs&rsquo / basic psychological needs were supported during the course activities was examined through multiple case study method. The study was implemented in an environmental science course. 33 pre-service science teachers who are taking the course participated in the study. Environmental problems which are Easter Island, Environment vs. Economy, Paper vs. Plastic, Ozone Depletion, Why Worry about Extinction?, Hasankeyf and Mamak Garbage Dump were discussed during the six course weeks. Five PSTs, who were chosen as a focus group, were interviewed each week after course discussions. The qualitative data were collected through interviews, discussion recordings, assignments and reflection papers. The results of the study illustrated that PSTs&rsquo / self determined motivation toward environment increased after the course activities and five months later following the course. PSTs&rsquo / negative capacity beliefs causing amotivation toward environment declined after the course activities and in follow up measurement. Finally, qualitative results of the study revealed that supporting cognitive and instructional features of PSTs during the course activities fullfilled their basic psychological needs and thus, fostered their self determined motivation toward environment.

The theory of planned behaviour proposes that behaviour is predicted by behavioural intention which is, in turn, predicted by attitudes toward the behaviour, subjective norms regarding the behaviour and perceived control over the behaviour. Implied within this theory is that each of the three base components (attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control) influences intentions. However, despite being one of the most widely used theories in social psychology, few studies have investigated this basic premise. In addition, research on cognitive dissonance, public commitment, confirmation bias, implemental mindset, and the false consensus effect suggest that there may be a reverse-causal influence of intentions back on the base components of the theory. This potential reverse-causal sequence was tested in three studies. The first was correlational, the second was a lab-based experiment, and the third was a quasi-experimental field study. Study 1 employed a cross-lagged correlation design and showed that a reciprocal relation between intentions and base components was plausible. For the behaviour of supporting an environmental organization, Study 1 showed that attitudes were likely to influence intention-setting and that intention-setting subsequently influenced subjective norms. Study 2 employed a modified version of a free choice paradigm in which participants chose to set an intention to support one of two environmental organizations (using different support behaviours). Consequently participants rated the base components for the chosen organization higher and the rejected organization lower. However, this effect was primarily observed if participants were not initially committed to supporting an organization before the study began. Study 3 was a field study in which chemistry lab users who were exposed to an intervention that targeted behavioural intentions subsequently perceived more positive subjective norms (one aspect of subjective norms was changed). Together, the three studies demonstrate that a reverse-causal relation between intentions and base components is plausible and, thus, the theory of planned behaviour should be modified to include a reciprocal relation between these constructs. Intentions are most likely to influence base components that are least relevant to actual behaviour. When attitudes, subjective norms or perceived behavioural control are associated with actual behaviour, the one that is most strongly associated is least likely to change in response to setting an intention to engage in that behaviour. Other, less relevant, base components are more likely to change. / Graduate / 0451 / 0621 / 0768