Introduction
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports (e.g. IPCC, 2018) show that it is high time to act to limit the harmful consequences of human behavior on the environment. The implementation of ecological behavior is of paramount importance to reduce the risks to which all living organisms are exposed. Moreover, many studies (e.g. Tapia-Fonllem, Corral-Verdugo & Fraijo-Sing, 2017) have established that there are positive links between the adoption of ecological behaviors, well-being and health. Several determinants of ecological behavior have been identified by social and environmental psychologists. This Master’s theses focuses on the following determinants : attitudes, behavioral difficulty and connectedness to nature which can be defined as an emotional relationship resulting from an individual’s experience with nature (Mayer & Frantz, 2004). In a cross-cultural comparison between France and Germany, this study examines the relationships between the previous determinants and observed ecological behavior.
Hypothesis
The first hypothesis aims to confirm the existence of a positive correlation between connectedness to nature and ecological behavior and thus to reinforce the characterization of connectedness to nature as a determinant of ecological behavior.
The second hypothesis is that the self-reported scores of ecological behavior and connectedness to nature are higher among members of sustainable food associations (observed ecological behavior) in France and in Germany.
The third hypothesis is exploratory and wishes to compare the Germans and the French in terms of ecological behavior and connectedness to nature.
Secondary hypotheses focus the comparison of the difficulty of several ecological behaviors between France and Germany. Kaiser and Biel (2000) propose that highlighting these differences is relevant for guiding political action.
Methodology
Four samples (N = 1435) of French or German adults, identified as members or not of sustainable food associations, completed an online questionnaire using the General Ecological Behavior (Kaiser, 1998) and the Disposition to Connect with Nature (Brügger, Kaiser & Roczen, 2011) scales as well as a request of socio-demographic information. Based on Campbell’s paradigm (Kaiser, 1998), these scales calculate a behavioral difficulty for each item (each item represents a specific ecological behavior) and an attitude score for each participant through the statistical Item Response Theory and more precisely the Rasch Model. Both scales did not exist in French. A committee led by a bilingual French/German academic and composed of professors, language teachers and students participated in the translation of the scales during 2018.
Results
Results indicate a significant positive correlation between ecological behavior and connectedness to nature (r = .36), a significant impact of sustainable food association membership on both variables, a higher connectedness to nature among the French, a higher attitude toward environmental protection among Germans and made it possible to establish a classification of ecological behavior by country according to their difficulty level. For example, the behavior considered to be the most difficult in Germany was: “I sometimes contribute financially to environmental organizations.” while in France, it was “I bought a solar installation for the generation of energy or hot water”. These results are discussed and linked to the psychology of commitment (Kiesler, 1971).
Keywords : ecological behavior, environmental attitudes, connectedness to nature, behavioral difficulty, sustainable food, France-Germany, Item-Response Theory.
Vocabulary
Harmful : néfaste.
Paramount : primordial, essentiel.
The implementation : la mise en œuvre.
Well-being : bien-être.
Cross-cultural : interculturel.
Sustainable food : alimentation durable (le terme « sustainable » ne renvoie pas exactement à « durable » mais plutôt à « soutenable », « viable »)
Bibliography :
Brügger, A., Kaiser, F. G., & Roczen, N. (2011). One for all? Connectedness to nature, inclusion of nature, environmental identity, and implicit association with nature. European Psychologist, 16(4), 324‑333. https://doi.org/10.1027/1016-9040/a000032
Kaiser, F. G. (1998). A General Measure of Ecological Behavior. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 28(5), 395‑422. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1559-1816.1998.tb01712.x
Kaiser, F. G., & Biel, A. (2000). Assessing General Ecological Behavior. European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 16(1), 44‑52. https://doi.org/10.1027//1015-5759.16.1.44
Kiesler, C. A. (1971). The psychology of commitment; experiments linking behavior to belief. New York : Academic Press.
Mayer, F. S., & Frantz, C. M. (2004). The connectedness to nature scale: A measure of individuals’ feeling in community with nature. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 24(4), 503‑515. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2004.10.001
Tapia-Fonllem, C., Corral-Verdugo, V., & Fraijo-Sing, B. (2017). Sustainable Behavior and Quality of Life. In G. Fleury-Bahi, E. Pol, & O. Navarro (Éd.), Handbook of Environmental Psychology and Quality of Life Research, 173‑184. https://doi.org/10.1007/978- 3-319-31416-7_9