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Social Science and Environmental behavior

32 important questions on Social Science and Environmental behavior

Actor oriented research perspective (Section 9.2.1)

A research perspective focused on human needs, goals, activities and determinants of behaviour with environmental impact.

Impact oriented research perspective (Section 9.2.1)

A research perspective focusing on physicochemical processes from source to sink.

Curtailment behaviour (Section 9.5.1) Beperking!

Behaviour implying limiting the use of existing appliances.

Efficiency behaviour (Section 9.5.1)

Behaviour implying switching to more efficient appliances

Impact-oriented definition/measure of behaviour (Section 9.5.1)

A definition/measure focusing on identifying behaviour associated with a significant environmental impact and examine ways of reducing that impact.

Intent-oriented definition/measure of behaviour (Section 9.5.1)

A definition/measure focusing on what intential actions people undertake to benefit environment

Commons dilemma (Section 9.6)

A situation of conflict between an aggregate collective interest and numerous individual interests. In pursuing their own personal interest, many individuals tend to shift the negative impact of their behaviour onto their common environment. The cumulative effect of these numerous small impacts may led to deterioration of collective environmental qualities.

Cooperation (Section 9.6.4)

Maximizing behavioural outcome for one’s own interest and the common good

Defection (Section 9.6.4)

Maximizing behavioural outcome for one’s own interest at the cost of the common good

Deliberation (Section 9.7.3)

Deliberation: a process of individual reasoning about possible behavioural alternatives

Repetition (Section 9.7.3)

Repetition: an individual process of automatic behaviour , established over time through recurrent positive reinforcements and the absence of major disincentives

Social comparison (Section 9.7.3)

Social comparison: A process of attuning one’s behaviour to that one observes in or assumes about other people

Imitation (Section 9.7.3)

Imitation: a process of automatically copying other people’s behaviour or their behavioural norms or expectations.

Needs, Opportunities, Abilities (NOA) model (Section 9.7.2)

A model for structuring internal and external behavioural determinants where consumer environmental behaviour can be regarded as governed by the Needs (N), Opportunities (O) and Abilities (A) at hand for undertaking a particular resource-consuming activity.

Motivation to perform (Section 9.7.2)

If there is a Need (N) and an Opportunity(O), people want to
consume

Behavioural Control (Section 9.7.2)

If there is an opportunity (O) and ability (A), people could consume

Opportunity Search (Section 9.7.2)

If there is a need and capability of fulfilling, people seek an opportunity to consume

Short-sightedness (Section 9.7.1)

A spatially, temporally and socially limited focus, which may hamper long-term problem awareness, strategic planning and policy decision making.

Survival dilemmas (Section 9.7.1)

Dilemma’s which lead people to discount behavioural consequences that are risky (benefit-risk dilemma), spatially remote (spatial survival dilemma), temporally delayed (temporal survival dilemma) and befalling to others (social survival dilemma) in view of the immediate benefits to themselves

Collective policies (Section 9.8.2)

Policies that simultaneously influence many different individuals in different situations

Constitutive policies (Section 9.8.2)

Policies that aim to influence behaviour indirectly by creating preconditions for behaviour (such as education, infrastructure equipment)

Directive policies (Section 9.8.2)

Policies that aim to influence behaviour directly (through instructions, prohibitions, price incentives)

Individualised policies (Section 9.8.2)

Policies aimed at changing the behaviour of specific individuals or groups

Informational strategies for behavioural change (Section 9.8.1)

Strategies aimed at changing individual perceptions, motivations and preferences, inducing actors to behave in cooperative manner while leaving the basic nature and the pay-off structure of the commons dilemma unchanged.

Pull policies (Section 9.8.2)

Policies that aim to make environmentally sound behaviour more attractive

bijv. Subsidies, aanmoedigende reclame campagnes

Push policies (Section 9.8.2)

Policies that aim to make environmental harmful behaviour less attractive

bijv. Verboden, prijsstijgingen, ontmoedigende reclame campagnes

Structural strategies for behavioural change (Section 9.8.1)

Strategies aimed at changing the context in which decisions are made and behaviours take place, thereby altering the basic nature of a commons dilemma

General Environmental Beliefs (Section 9.9.1.2)

General belief about the nature of the Earth and humanity’s relationship with it.

Myths of nature (Section 9.9.1.3)

Model of the definitions and image of nature people hold, reflecting different archetypical views on the vulnerability of nature, individual perceptions of risk as well as preferred strategies for risk reduction.

Value (Orientation) (Section 9.9.1.1)

Value orientation of people towards common resources. Values are defined here as enduring beliefs that a specific mode of conduct is personally or socially preferable to an opposite or converse mode of

conduct or end state

New Environmental Paradigm (NEP) scale (Section 9.9.1.2)

Scale including 15 items providing a general measure of a person’s environmental concern and General Environmental Beliefs

IPAT formula (Section 9.10.1)

(Impact, Population, Affluence, Technology, Culture and Institutions)
Formula stating that for any geographic unit, total environmental impact (I) is a product of population size (P), average per capita level of affluence (A) and the environmental resource intensity of the technology (T) used to produce one unit of affluence.
I = P x A x T
Whereby (P) is the number of people,
(A) is the volume of production and consumption and
(T) the means to produce and consume.
P, A and T are influenced by cultural beliefs (C) and institutions (I).

The question on the page originate from the summary of the following study material:

Principles of Environmental Sciences

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