Literature review on psychological models and factors implicated in energy related behaviors and decisions: how individual energy choices can be made in group contexts.

1. This project has received funding
from the European Union’s
Horizon 2020 research and
innovation programme under
grant agreement No 727470
Literature review on psychological models and factors
implicated in energy-related behaviors and decisions
Social identity perspective on sustainable energy transitions:
How individual energy choices can be made in group contexts,
with the goal of identifying strategies for advising public policies
and decision making in the energy and environmental domain.
Background
PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS IN ENERGY DECISIONS
Results from WP4 empirical studies and multinational survey
Methodology and materials
A systematic research effort focused on theoretical issues and
empirical questions in the field of sustainable energy choices and
pro-environmental behaviour.
Mixed-methods approach
• systematic literature review
• meta-analysis
• laboratory and field experiments
• correlational case study survey
• large scale multinational survey
Meta-analyses
• 8 meta-analyses from 125 independent samples with 58,207
participants on identity factors and pro-environmental action.
• 5 meta-analyses from 102 independent samples, 59,948
participants on individual factors and energy saving behaviour.
Laboratory and field experiments
• experimental and/or correlation studies in four EU countries
(Germany, Italy, Finland, Bulgaria) and two non-EU countries
(Turkey, Norway).
• 4-month period (February 2017 and May 2019)
• 1368 participants
Multinational survey on individuals’ energy related behaviour, attitudes and
choices covering six main areas of life (Housing, Mobility, Diet,
Consumption, Leisure, and Acquisition of Information)
• 31 European countries (EU-28, Norway, Turkey, and Switzerland)
• 4-month period (August to December, 2018)
• 18,000 completed surveys
➢ Scientists
➢ Policy decision makers
➢ Stakeholders
Intended audience

2. This project has received funding
from the European Union’s
Horizon 2020 research and
innovation programme under
grant agreement No 727470
• Individually-, group-, and place-focused identity types predicts
energy intention, and energy policy acceptance via social and
personal norms → Theoretical model proposed as the Identity-Norm-
Action Model (INAM).
• Irrespective of the group-size reference frame (EU, Country,
Municipality), and Pro-Environmental Energy Behaviour type
(buildings, mobility, smart technology), the main consistent drivers of
energy policy acceptance are pro-environmental behavioural
intentions and an individually-focused identity (individualistic
perspective)
➢ Necessity of policies supporting consumer-driven sustainable
energy choices from a psychological and social influence
perspective (rather than relying only on economic incentives and
technological innovations)
• Importance of emotions (guilt, pride and moral anger), emotion
regulation and mindfulness in the promotion of sustainable energy
choices and pro-environmental lifestyles
Findings - Results
As single individuals, people could neither be capable to effectively
target large-scale environmental crises. People do not always
consider their ingroups to be primarily associated with shared pro-
environmental goals.
• Effect of social identity emerged, but less robustly than expected
from meta-analyitical studies and experiments on sustainable
energy actions.
• Social norms and decision observability can motivate people to be
more supportive of renewable energy options. A positive effect
emerged on participants’ post-decisional emotions of happiness
and pride:
➢ Making feelings of connection to nature salient could be an
aspect of interventions leading to positive emotions (Capaldi et
al., 2014).
➢ Extending intervention programs and policy decisions to foster
the self-relevance of environmental issues for individuals and
collectives, and to associate pro-environmental action with
supportive emotional experiences
• Place identity and pro-environmental values turned out to be more
strongly related in samples of younger (than older) people.
➢ Necessity of providing formal and informal learning opportunities
but also about communicating pro-environmental social norms in
childhood and older generations education
• Emotions in energy saving seem to be stronger among men than
among women.
Conclusions
Collective factors such as group identity, social norms, and individual
factors such as attitudes, beliefs and emotions do play a relevant role
in shaping people’s energy choices and should be taken into
consideration in order to improve the efficacy and public acceptance
of sustainable energy policies.