Jansen, Merel (2026) The Effects of Threat, Coping and Egoistic Values on Climate Adaptive Behavior. Bachelor thesis, Psychology.
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Abstract
The impacts of climate change are becoming more apparent, which makes it necessary for society to engage in climate-adaptive behavior. Municipalities already engage in this behavior; however, these measures alone are insufficient. It is therefore important that individuals engage in adaptive behaviors themselves. Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) has been widely used to explain individuals’ intentions to engage in such behaviors. However, the existing research using PMT reports inconsistent findings of the influence of threat and coping on intentions. There is a possibility that this is because perceived threat levels are sometimes too low and other times too high. Another reason could be that other factors, like individual differences, play a role. This study used the PMT with a person-by-treatment design, combining a 3 (threat: low, medium, high) × 2 (coping: low, high) between-subjects experimental design with a measured individual difference variable (egoistic values). The results provided some evidence that a medium level of threat leads to the highest intention, but only significantly compared to low levels of threat. A high level of coping did not differ significantly from a low level of coping. Because of this, medium threat and high coping also did not report the highest intention. Adding egoistic values to the model did not significantly improve its explanatory power. However, egoistic values showed interesting outcomes with the ‘influential’ egoistic value having a positive effect on intention, whereas as the ‘authority’ egoistic value showed a negative effect. These findings suggest that the components of the PMT as well as egoistic values can influence intention to climate-adaptive behavior, but further research is needed to clarify with specific value predicts which direction of effect.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Bachelor) |
|---|---|
| Supervisor name: | Muinos Trujillo, G. |
| Degree programme: | Psychology |
| Differentiation route: | None [Bachelor Psychology] |
| Date Deposited: | 18 May 2026 07:31 |
| Last Modified: | 18 May 2026 07:31 |
| URI: | http://gmwpublic.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/6405 |
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