Pro-environmental attitudes,pro-environmental behaviours and nature-relatedness: Differences based on place preference

IntroductionThis study explored whether place preference, an individual's relationship with place, differentiated people on pro-environmental attitudes, nature-relatedness and pro-environmental behavior.ObjectiveThe aim was to provide a way to segment people and potentially inform behavior change messaging strategies targeting pro-environmental action.MethodOnline participants reported an urban/nature place preference, completed a sense of place measure in reference to this categorisation, followed by counter-balanced nature-relatedness, pro-environmental attitudes and pro-environmental behaviour measures.ResultsParticipants reported moderate-to-high levels of sense of place generally and place attachment specifically. Positive associations between sense of place, nature relatedness, pro-environmental attitudes and behaviours existed; but differed by place preference. Correlations were positive in the nature preference group but negative or non-significant in the urban preference group. Individuals with a nature preference reported higher nature-relatedness, pro-environmental attitudes and pro-environmental behavior.ConclusionThe results suggest place preference can discriminate individuals on a range of pro-environmental concepts and may have potential for behavior change strategies targeting these outcomes.     

Validation of the factor structure of the Greek adaptation of the Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Questionnaire (SATAQ-3)

The current study aimed to confirm the factor structure and reliability of the newly translated Greek version of the Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Questionnaire-3 (SATAQ-3) among 1753 Greek-Cypriot high school students. Results of the structural equation modeling indicated a very good fit with the original four-factor structure of the SATAQ-3 for both males and females. The Cronbach's alpha coefficients for the four subscales were .92 for ‘Internalization-General’, .82 for ‘Internalization-Athlete’, .94 for ‘Pressure’ and .88 for ‘Information’. Further analyses showed no significant differences between BMI categories with respect to the Internalization-General, Internalization-Athlete and Information factors but there were significant differences on the Pressure factor. The findings of the current study support the existence of the original four-factor structure of the SATAQ-3. The validity and reliability results of the Greek version of the SATAQ-3 support its use in Greek-speaking countries or populations.     

Political conservatism and variety‐seeking

In this research, we document and explain a counterintuitive effect of political ideology on variety-seeking. Although political conservatives have a higher desire for control, which exerts a negative effect on variety-seeking, they also have a stronger motivation to follow social norms, which exerts a positive effect on variety-seeking. Three studies demonstrate that conservatism is positively related to variety-seeking due to social normative concerns and rule out an alternative explanation of heightened self-expressive motives among conservatives. This research provides preliminary evidence of how political ideology may explain differences in product choices.     

Appreciation of nature and appreciation of environmental protection: How stable are these attitudes and which comes first?

IntroductionAttitude toward nature and attitude toward environmental protection are two separate but correlated attitudes. Little is known about the two attitudes’ stability/volatility over time, despite the practical value of such knowledge.Objectives & methodUsing longitudinal survey data from 251 adults in a cross-lagged structural equation model, we assessed the degree of spontaneous (i.e., unprompted) change in the two attitudes. We also considered whether such change could provide evidence regarding causal direction; causation could go in either of two directions between the two attitudes, or it could even be bi-directional.ResultsWe corroborated the substantive connection between attitude toward nature and attitude toward environmental protection; however, the absence of change in the attitudes despite the passage of two years disallows reliable statements about causal direction.ConclusionIt is possible to protect the environment by encouraging appreciation of nature, but change in attitude toward nature and attitude toward environmental protection may be difficult to achieve with mature individuals.     

A review of: “Agency,Health and Social Survival: The Ecopolitics of Rival Psychologies”

Caroline New (1996) Agency, Health and Social Survival: the Ecopolitics of Rival Psychologies, London: Taylor & Francis, 190 pp., $12.95     

Introduction: The 2030 Agenda

This introduction notes the contributions of authors to the second (final) issue of the Journal of Global Ethics 2015 Sustainable Development Goals Forum. It briefly explains the process through which the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have developed from their receipt in 2014 to their passage in September 2015 by the UN General Assembly, and it considers their development in prospect. The Millennium Development Goals, which spanned 1990–2015, present a case study that reveals the changeability of such long-term multilateral commitments. They were enmeshed in overlapping and inconsistent national and intergovernmental commitments reaching from 1995 to 2005, and the text of those goals also evolved, stabilizing for the last time in 2007. The SDGs and attendant commitments should be expected to evolve similarly over their 15-year run. This presents a concern, for among the three committees established by the UN to create the goals, the two committees charged with public consultation were retired as planned in 2014. The process evident thereafter has displayed a shift towards a strategy of enrolling broad public endorsement that leaves such consultation and specific responsibility to those consulted in doubt. This bodes ill for public deliberation on the goals and for public accountability as the agenda proceeds towards 2030.     

Exploring the Strength of Association between the Components of Emotion Syndromes: The Case of Surprise

A new experimental paradigm involving a computerised quiz was used to examine, on an intra-individual level, the strength of association between four components of the surprise syndrome: cognitive (degree of prospectively estimated unexpectedness), experiential (the feeling of surprise), behavioural (degree of response delay on a parallel task), and expressive (the facial expression of surprise). It is argued that this paradigm, together with associated methods of data analysis, effectively controls for most method factors that could in previous studies have lowered the correlations among the components of emotion syndromes. It was found that (a) the components of the surprise syndrome were all positively correlated; (b) strong association existed only between the cognitive and the experiential component of surprise; (c) the coherence between syndrome components did not increase with increasing intensity of surprise; and (d) there was also only moderate coherence between the components of the facial expression of surprise (eyebrow raising, eye widening, mouth opening), although in this case, coherence tended to increase with intensity. Taken together, the findings support only a weakly probabilistic version of a behavioural syndrome view of surprise. However, the component correlations seem strong enough to support the existence of strong associations among a subset of the mental or central neurophysiological processes engaged in surprise.     

The influence of partial‐match cues on event‐based prospective memory

In event‐based prospective memory tasks people form an intention to respond when an environmental cue signals that conditions are appropriate to fulfil an intended activity. In the ongoing activity the authors embedded partial‐match cues that only partially, but not completely, satisfied the conditions required to make a prospective response. The consequence of encountering these partial‐match cues was to increase responses to appropriate prospective memory cues encountered later. This outcome occurred both with semantic and orthographic cues, but only the former led to longer processing latencies of the partial‐match cues. This asymmetry suggests that partial‐match cues may not need to be processed consciously in order to benefit event‐based prospective memory. A parametric manipulation of the number of partial‐match cues resulted in numerically but not statistically better prospective memory. Consequently, partial‐match cues may function as overt reminders of the intention to respond or they may serve to engage participants in self‐initiated remindings of the intention.     

Attitudes towards psychotherapy manuals among clinicians treating eating disorders

Clinicians have relatively low uptake and implementation of evidence-based psychotherapies for the eating disorders, and this problem appears to be associated with low use of manualized approaches. This study examines clinicians' positive and negative attitudes to manuals, and possible beliefs and emotional factors that might drive those attitudes. The participants were 125 psychological therapists working with eating-disordered patients. Each completed standardised measures of attitudes to manuals and emotional states. A number of beliefs about the content of manuals were associated with both positive attitudes to the outcome of treatment and negative attitudes to their impact on the treatment process. In addition, a more positive mood was associated with more positive attitudes. Suggestions are made regarding how attitudes might be made more positive, in order to facilitate the use of evidence-based therapies for eating disorders.     

Attitudes to doctors and medicine: The preliminary development of a new scale

Abstract

The preliminary development of a new scale to measure attitudes towards medicine and doctors is described. The scale comprises four factors: “positive attitude towards doctors,” “positive attitude towards medicine,” “negative attitude towards doctors,” and “negative attitude towards medicine.” Alpha coefficients for the four scales were satisfactory, ranging from 0.69 to 0.76. Test re-test reliabilities ranged from 0.69 to 0.81. Evidence of criterion-related validity was obtained from comparison of the attitudes of five groups involved in health care: nurses, medical students, patients, and sociologists and psychologists who are teachers in medical schools. Patients and medical students held significantly more positive attitudes towards doctors and medicine that did nurses and behavioural scientists. While nurses were as negative towards doctors as sociologists and psychologists, they were significantly less negative about medicine.