There is no ''I'' in nature: The influence of self-awareness on connectedness to nature [An article from: Journal of Environmental Psychology]
Description
This digital document is a journal article from Journal of Environmental Psychology, published by Elsevier in . The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Description:
Environmentalists and ecopsychologists claim that focusing on ''I'' leads people to feel less connected to nature. The present study empirically tests this argument by manipulating participants' objective self-awareness (OSA). Heightened OSA has been shown to increase participants' self-focus, but also increase the impact of individuals' attitudes and personality characteristics. Integrating these effects, we predicted that individuals lacking pro-environmental internal characteristics (nonenvironmentalists and those high on exploitativeness) would show decreased connection to nature in response to heightened OSA, while individuals with pro-environmental internal characteristics would not. For these individuals, their pro-environmental internal characteristics should counteract the effects of OSA on connection to nature. Two studies provide empirical support for this hypothesis. Implications of this research for pro-environmental actions are discussed.
Description:
Environmentalists and ecopsychologists claim that focusing on ''I'' leads people to feel less connected to nature. The present study empirically tests this argument by manipulating participants' objective self-awareness (OSA). Heightened OSA has been shown to increase participants' self-focus, but also increase the impact of individuals' attitudes and personality characteristics. Integrating these effects, we predicted that individuals lacking pro-environmental internal characteristics (nonenvironmentalists and those high on exploitativeness) would show decreased connection to nature in response to heightened OSA, while individuals with pro-environmental internal characteristics would not. For these individuals, their pro-environmental internal characteristics should counteract the effects of OSA on connection to nature. Two studies provide empirical support for this hypothesis. Implications of this research for pro-environmental actions are discussed.
