Think green : investing cognitive effort for a pro-environmental cause
- Author
- Ruth Krebs (UGent) , Arthur Prével (UGent) , Julie Hall (UGent) and Vincent Hoofs (UGent)
- Organization
- Project
-
- The role of cognitive effort in motivated behaviour: a neurocognitive approach
- REMOTIVATE (Reward revisited: Towards a comprehensive understanding of motivational influences on human cognition (ERC StG REMOTIVATE))
- Abstract
- Despite the overwhelming evidence for global warming and recommendations to respond to the climate chal-lenges, the implementation of pro-environmental behavior (PEB) remains difficult for many individuals. One key notion in this context is that the reconfiguration of behavior generally requires cognitive effort. In a preregistered study entailing both laboratory and online samples we tested in how far participants are willing to invest cognitive effort for a pro-environmental cause (eco reward) and how this differs from cognitive effort for per-sonal outcomes (own reward). Both eco and own reward led to response speeding and reduction of interference compared to no reward trials in a cognitive control task. However, the speeding effect was significantly smaller for eco reward trials, resonating with the notion that pro-environmental outcomes have a lower motivational value than personal ones - despite equal probability and magnitude of the associated monetary incentive. While present in the full sample, this difference was most pronounced in the online sample, which might reflect a weaker contribution of social desirability in this context. By singling out cognitive effort and the inherent costs thereof (rather than temporal and/or financial costs), the current paradigm can be used to test which factors and interventions might increase or decrease the willingness to allocate cognitive resources towards pro -environmental goals - which is key for initiating and also maintaining behavioral change.
- Keywords
- Applied Psychology, Cognitive Psychology, EnvironmentalPsychology, Cognitive effort, Pro-environmental behavior, Reward, Stroop task, Inter-individual differences, INTEGRATIVE THEORY, CAMPBELL PARADIGM, REWARD-PROSPECT, CLIMATE-CHANGE, BEHAVIOR, TASK, RESPONSES, CONFLICT, IDENTITY, STROOP
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Citation
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication: http://hdl.handle.net/1854/LU-01GTVA5099ZZHWT02F5RMXQY4N
- MLA
- Krebs, Ruth, et al. “Think Green : Investing Cognitive Effort for a pro-Environmental Cause.” JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY, vol. 85, 2023, doi:10.1016/j.jenvp.2022.101946.
- APA
- Krebs, R., Prével, A., Hall, J., & Hoofs, V. (2023). Think green : investing cognitive effort for a pro-environmental cause. JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY, 85. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2022.101946
- Chicago author-date
- Krebs, Ruth, Arthur Prével, Julie Hall, and Vincent Hoofs. 2023. “Think Green : Investing Cognitive Effort for a pro-Environmental Cause.” JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 85. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2022.101946.
- Chicago author-date (all authors)
- Krebs, Ruth, Arthur Prével, Julie Hall, and Vincent Hoofs. 2023. “Think Green : Investing Cognitive Effort for a pro-Environmental Cause.” JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 85. doi:10.1016/j.jenvp.2022.101946.
- Vancouver
- 1.Krebs R, Prével A, Hall J, Hoofs V. Think green : investing cognitive effort for a pro-environmental cause. JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY. 2023;85.
- IEEE
- [1]R. Krebs, A. Prével, J. Hall, and V. Hoofs, “Think green : investing cognitive effort for a pro-environmental cause,” JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY, vol. 85, 2023.
@article{01GTVA5099ZZHWT02F5RMXQY4N,
abstract = {{Despite the overwhelming evidence for global warming and recommendations to respond to the climate chal-lenges, the implementation of pro-environmental behavior (PEB) remains difficult for many individuals. One key notion in this context is that the reconfiguration of behavior generally requires cognitive effort. In a preregistered study entailing both laboratory and online samples we tested in how far participants are willing to invest cognitive effort for a pro-environmental cause (eco reward) and how this differs from cognitive effort for per-sonal outcomes (own reward). Both eco and own reward led to response speeding and reduction of interference compared to no reward trials in a cognitive control task. However, the speeding effect was significantly smaller for eco reward trials, resonating with the notion that pro-environmental outcomes have a lower motivational value than personal ones - despite equal probability and magnitude of the associated monetary incentive. While present in the full sample, this difference was most pronounced in the online sample, which might reflect a weaker contribution of social desirability in this context. By singling out cognitive effort and the inherent costs thereof (rather than temporal and/or financial costs), the current paradigm can be used to test which factors and interventions might increase or decrease the willingness to allocate cognitive resources towards pro -environmental goals - which is key for initiating and also maintaining behavioral change.}},
articleno = {{101946}},
author = {{Krebs, Ruth and Prével, Arthur and Hall, Julie and Hoofs, Vincent}},
issn = {{0272-4944}},
journal = {{JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY}},
keywords = {{Applied Psychology,Cognitive Psychology,EnvironmentalPsychology,Cognitive effort,Pro-environmental behavior,Reward,Stroop task,Inter-individual differences,INTEGRATIVE THEORY,CAMPBELL PARADIGM,REWARD-PROSPECT,CLIMATE-CHANGE,BEHAVIOR,TASK,RESPONSES,CONFLICT,IDENTITY,STROOP}},
language = {{eng}},
pages = {{8}},
title = {{Think green : investing cognitive effort for a pro-environmental cause}},
url = {{http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2022.101946}},
volume = {{85}},
year = {{2023}},
}
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