From Anger to Action? Investigating the Relationship Between Eco-Anxiety, Eco-Anger and Pro-Environmetal Behavior

Boldt, Hannah (2024) From Anger to Action? Investigating the Relationship Between Eco-Anxiety, Eco-Anger and Pro-Environmetal Behavior. Bachelor thesis, Psychology.

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Abstract

In the midst of the climate crisis, attention to eco-emotions (affective responses to climate change), and specifically eco-anxiety (conceptualized as either an eco-emotion or a multidimensional syndrome of adverse mental health related to concern about the climate crisis) has increased, prompting interest into their impact on pro-environmental behavior (PEB). Recently, Stanley et al. (2021) found eco-anger, rather than eco-anxiety, as an eco- emotion and eco-depression, uniquely predictive of individual and collective PEB and positively related to well-being. The current study replicates Stanley et al.’s (2021) study of the relationship between eco-emotions and PEB and extends on it in two ways: 1) by comparing how the different conceptualizations of eco-anxiety relate to PEB and investigating whether eco-anger consistently predicts PEB and 2) experimentally studying the effect of the eco-emotions on pro-environmental behavioral intentions (PEBI). Seventy-two participants completed an online survey, including an experimental manipulation using TikTok videos. Our results replicated Stanley et al.’s (2021) findings of eco-anger’s unique positive relationship with PEB. We also found that individual PEB was better predicted by eco-anxiety, conceptualized as an eco-emotion, while collective PEB was better predicted by eco-anxiety, conceptualized as a multidimensional syndrome. Eco-anger remained a significant predictor next to either measure of eco-anxiety, and eco-anxiety, conceptualized as a syndrome, emerged as an additional positive significant predictor of collective PEB. A differential manipulation of the eco-emotions was unsuccessful, and heightened eco-emotions showed a small to medium but non-significant positive relation to PEBI. Our findings centrally highlight the important role of eco-anger in predicting PEB and the necessity of a clear conceptualization of eco-anxiety. We discuss possible explanations for the findings, future directions as well as implications for translating research findings into policy and climate change messaging to promote PEB. Keywords: eco-emotions, eco-anxiety, eco-anger, pro-environmental behavior, pro- environmental behavioral intentions

Item Type:	Thesis (Bachelor)
Supervisor name:	Valkengoed, A.M. van
Degree programme:	Psychology
Differentiation route:	None [Bachelor Psychology]
Date Deposited:	01 Aug 2024 06:21
Last Modified:	01 Aug 2024 06:21
URI:	http://gmwpublic.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/4209

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