Attitudes Towards Nature as Determinant of Pro-Environmental Behavior

the Role of Sensibility in the Gap Between Consciousness and Behavior

Abstract

  This study investigated whether “attitudes toward nature” based on sensibility and emotion can serve as a determining factor that bridges the gap between consciousness and actual pro-environmental behavior within psychological models. Traditional models of behavior change assume that behavior is driven by rational decision-making based on knowledge and values; however, in reality, a gap between awareness and behavior is frequently observed. In this study, two types of nature-based experiential programs—the insect program and the plant program—were conducted as activities for elementary school students at the Sapporo Youth Lodge. The analysis focused on (1) whether there was any change in some behavioral intention, and (2) whether there was a correlation between “attitudes toward nature” and “pro-environmental behavior”. Paired t-tests, Bayesian factor analysis, and non-parametric tests found no significant change in behavioral intention, but found a moderate positive linear relationship between “attitudes towards nature” and “pro-environmental behavior” in the plant program, suggesting a relation between attitude and behavior even without changes in behavioral consciousness. These findings indicate that “attitudes toward nature”, shaped by sensibility and emotion—factors not accounted for in traditional rational models—may serve as key determinants of environmental behavior and highlight the need to reconsider existing psychological models of behavior in environmental education to include such affective factors.