According to a study conducted in 2020 by the UN Development Programme and University of Oxford, a majority of people (an average of 64%) in every country surveyed believe that the world is in a state of climate emergency. But does an awareness of these imminent dangers necessarily lead to action? Why do some people demonstrate their strong stance on the issue through climate change mitigation behaviours, climate activism and support for climate policy, while others remain reticent and lax? Beyond personal values, might culture play an important role in determining an individual’s level of environmental engagement? 

This was a question Angela Leung, Professor of Psychology at Singapore Management University (SMU), sought to answer. In her research, she has found important insights about collectivistic and cosmopolitan orientations that can impact an individual’s tendency to exhibit pro-environmental behaviour.  

Four types of values in the environmental domain 

Values are understood to be broad desirable goals that motivate people’s actions and serve as guiding principles in their life. Prof Leung explains that four types of values have been identified in relation to the environmental domain: 

1. Egoistic values - Motivate people to maximise outcomes for themselves (e.g., promoting personal wealth) 

2. Hedonic values - Motivate people to maximise their pleasure (e.g., gratifying personal desires) 

3. Altruistic values - Motivate people to maximise outcomes for other people (e.g., encouraging prosocial behaviours) 

4. Biospheric values - Motivate people to maximise outcomes for non-human species and the ecosystem (e.g., helping endangered species) 

On the surface level, one might assume that people with egoistic values would be the least environmentally involved, and that those engaging in pro-environmental behaviour subscribe to biospheric values.  However, Prof Leung explains the relationship is not as simple as that. She highlights the role of perceived group values, which are values that are perceived as widely shared in a society and therefore guide how individuals in those societies feel, think and behave. She explains that people can choose to 1) act on their personally endorsed values, 2) act on values they perceive to be important in their culture, or 3) take a middle stance that allows them to balance their personal values and perceived group values.  

The influence of collectivistic orientation on pro-environmental behaviour 

To understand the role perceived group values can play in encouraging pro-environmental behaviour, Prof Leung looked at how collectivistic orientation influenced personal values and perceived group values in individuals from Singapore and the United States. Defining collectivistic orientation as “people’s tendencies to prioritise group goals, such as maintaining group harmony and respecting decisions made by the collective”, her findings showed that people’s personal egoistic values promote public pro-environmental behaviours to a greater extent when they also show higher levels of collectivistic orientation. She explains that in order to satisfy self-interested concerns such as boosting their social status or signal positive traits that tend to be highly regarded in collectivistic societies, individuals who personally endorse egoistic values and show a higher collectivistic orientation may be motivated to pursue pro-environmental behaviours. Monetary factors such as the cost savings that come with lower energy consumption are other egoistic motivations that come into play.  
 
While she had hypothesised that perceived biospheric values would strongly predict environmental engagements in collectivistic societies, her findings revealed that this was not the case. Instead, perceived biospheric group values discouraged environmental volunteerism and were not associated with other environmental engagement measures. Prof Leung explains that this can be attributed to a phenomenon known as the “free-rider effect”. She shares that “people may infer from a biospheric group value (a positive norm) that many others are doing their part to tackle environmental problems. They see the efforts of others as sufficient, and their own individual actions as having little additional impact. Hence, a perceived biospheric group norm may signal the opportunity for people to free-ride on the efforts of others, thus deterring their own intentions to take pro-environmental actions”.

Cosmopolitan orientation and pro-environmental behaviour  

Cosmopolitan orientation, which is the tendency to embrace cultural openness and respect, is another factor that can lead to pro-environmental behaviour. Prof Leung's research suggests two reasons for this.  

Firstly, since cosmopolitan individuals show a high receptivity to learn from divergent cultural experiences, they tend to acquire more knowledge about global challenges concerning environmental crises and are more aware of mitigating strategies.  

Secondly, cosmopolitan individuals who often display a sense of global pro-sociality and a desire to protect their fellow humans, extend this mindset to the environment. As such, they develop an emotional affinity towards nature. 

With this being the case, it is important to create environmental campaigns that not only impart environmental knowledge, but also cultivate an emotional attachment to nature. For example, by using virtual reality to create a multi-sensory experience of freshwater depletion or water pollution in society, cosmopolitan participants are more likely to walk away with the knowledge and a sense of emotional affinity needed to spur them into action. Prof Leung also says that inculcating a cosmopolitan perspective in the curriculum of environmental education can be key. She explains that “by fostering a cosmopolitan mindset and an identification with humankind, environmental education or intervention programmes can reap important motivational benefits in mitigating global environmental challenges”.  

How can we encourage greater pro-environmental behaviour?  

Understanding the psychology behind human behaviour is critical if environmentalists and policymakers want to better communicate with community members and encourage greater pro-environmental action. Given the vast differences in cultures all over the world, it is important for leaders in each society to understand their people and take their own unique approach. Prof Leung shares three tips that leaders should keep in mind, when uncovering ways to encourage people to be more proactive in mitigating and adapting to climate change: respect, recognise and rethink.  

Every community needs to find their way to encourage their members to become more proactive in mitigating and adapting to climate change. Even so, there are 3 things leaders should keep in mind: 

1) Respect that different countries may have different priorities and different approaches for addressing climate change, but they can help put things into perspective to show that these differences serve the same goal – they are motivated by the superordinate goal of tackling the global climate crisis 

2) Recognize the pro-environmental benefits of embracing a global identity or a cosmopolitan mindset 

3) Rethink the impacts of climate change. Beyond bringing about adverse health and economic impacts, climate crisis can also produce harmful effects on human culture (e.g., rising sea levels can destroy cultural heritage or even make certain regions or the whole nation vanish underwater)