Conference presentation on the emotional basis of environmental values

1. Naturalizing Sentimentalism for
Environmental Values
T.J. Kasperbauer, 7/23/15

3. Callicott (1985, 1986, 1987, 1992)
McShane (2007, 2011)
Sentimentalism for the Environment

4. 1. Responses to the environment itself
• Pro- and anti-environmental attitudes

5. 2. Attitudes toward environmental attitudes
and behaviors
• Self- and other-evaluating sentiments

6. 1. Responses to the environment itself
• Pro- and anti-environmental attitudes

7. Affinity to nature
Biophillia

8. Problems:
• Not a discrete emotion
• Being attentive to nature more likely to
produce biophobia
Biophillia

9. • Vastness: Perceiving nature to be greater than
oneself.
• Accommodation: Struggling to fit nature
experiences into familiar concepts and
experiences.
Awe and Wonder

11. Ask people to describe awe-inducing experiences.
- Nature experiences most common.
Michelle Shiota, Dacher Keltner, and Amanda Mossman (2007). The Nature of Awe:
Elicitors, Appraisals, and Effects on Self-Concept. Cognition and Emotion 21: 944–63.
Awe and Wonder

12. Thinking about awe makes people want to be in nature.
Michelle Shiota, Dacher Keltner, and Amanda Mossman (2007). The Nature of Awe:
Elicitors, Appraisals, and Effects on Self-Concept. Cognition and Emotion 21: 944–63.
Awe and Wonder

13. Ask people to recall beautiful nature. Awe important again.
Aesthetic Response

14. • Ask people to describe fearful events in nature.
• 40% included negative emotions and positive
emotions
• 19% of the events featured positive emotions
- E.g., happiness, curiosity, fascination
• Awe helps explain this.
- E.g., vastness
Agnes van den Berg and Marlien ter Heijne (2005). Fear Versus Fascination: An
Exploration of Emotional Responses to Natural Threats. Journal of Environmental
Psychology 25: 261–72.
Awe and Wonder

15. Biophobia
• Disgust
• Fear

16. Disgusted by Nature
• Core disgust

18. Disgusted by Nature
• Core disgust
• Animal reminder (or mortality salience)

20. Mortality Salience
• Increased thoughts of death when in wild
nature compared to managed nature.
Sander Poole and Agnes Van den Berg, “Lost in the Wilderness,” Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology 88 (2005): 1013–28.

21. Write about death Write about music
Imagine they are bidding for
the right to harvest lumber
Told that high bids will be
lucrative but will eventually
deplete the forest
Tim Kasser and Kennon Sheldon (2000). Of Wealth and Death: Materialism, Mortality Salience, and
Consumption Behavior. Psychological Science 11: 348–351.

22. Write about death Write about music
Imagine they are bidding for
the right to harvest lumber
Told that high bids will be
lucrative but will eventually
deplete the forest
Mortality salience group bid 12 acres higher,
on average
Tim Kasser and Kennon Sheldon (2000). Of Wealth and Death: Materialism, Mortality Salience, and
Consumption Behavior. Psychological Science 11: 348–351.

23. Disgust and Fear
• Combined in animal phobias
– Estimated 6% of the population
– Reflects underlying fear of animals

24. 2. Attitudes toward environmental attitudes
and behaviors
• Self- and other-evaluating sentiments

25. Self-Evaluating Sentiments
• Shame
• Guilt

26. Guilt
• Feeling responsible for wrong-doing

27. Guilt and Climate Change
Mark Ferguson and Nyla Branscombe (2010). Collective Guilt Mediates the Effect of
Beliefs About Climate Change on Willingness to Engage in Mitigation Behavior. Journal
of Environmental Psychology 30: 135–42.

28. Guilt and Climate Change
Mark Ferguson and Nyla Branscombe (2010). Collective Guilt Mediates the Effect of Beliefs About
Climate Change on Willingness to Engage in Mitigation Behavior. Journal of Environmental
Psychology 30: 135–42.

29. Guilt and Climate Change
Read about Germany’s responsibility for climate change
• Increased guilt and anger
Nicole Harth, Colin Leach, and Thomas Kessler (2013). Guilt, Anger, and Pride About
In-Group Environmental Behaviour: Different Emotions Predict Distinct Intentions.
Journal of Environmental Psychology 34: 18–26.

30. Guilt and Climate Change
• “I would like to contribute to repairing the damage
that we Germans have caused.”
• “I think that within Germany, environmental sinners
should be punished more harshly; companies as well
as private persons.”
Nicole Harth, Colin Leach, and Thomas Kessler (2013). Guilt, Anger, and Pride About
In-Group Environmental Behaviour: Different Emotions Predict Distinct Intentions.
Journal of Environmental Psychology 34: 18–26.
GUILT
ANGER

31. Other-Evaluating Sentiments
• Contempt
• Anger
• Disgust

32. CAD
• Read about 20 different environmental risks.
–Clear cutting of rainforest
–Chemical dumps
–Volcanic eruption
Gisela Böhm (2003). Emotional Reactions to Environmental Risks. Journal of
Environmental Psychology 23: 199–212.

33. CAD
Gisela Böhm (2003). Emotional Reactions to Environmental Risks. Journal of Environmental Psychology
23: 199–212.

34. CAD
Contagion scale
• “It really bothers me when people sneeze
without covering their mouths.”
• “If land was owned in a single family for
generations, there would always be something
of their ancestors on that land, even after it
has changed ownership.”
Paul Rozin and Sharon Wolf (2008). Attachment to Land: The Case of the Land of Israel
for American and Israeli Jews and the Role of Contagion. Judgment and Decision
Making 3: 325–34.

35. CAD
Asked Americans and Israelis whether they
would trade valued land.
- “Is there any piece of land in Israel that you
would never be willing to trade under any
circumstance?”
Contagion sensitivity positively correlated with
land values.

36. 1. Responses to the environment itself
• Pro- and anti-environmental attitudes

37. 2. Attitudes toward environmental attitudes
and behaviors
• Self- and other-evaluating sentiments

38. Conclusions
• Environmental values are largely based in
emotions.

39. Conclusions
• Environmental values are largely based in
emotions.
• More speculative: a sentimentalist meta-ethic
could also serve normative aims.
– Improved diagnosis of the emotional basis for
proenvironmental behaviors will lead to improved
suggestions for producing action