TY - JOUR
T1 - Pride and guilt predict pro-environmental behavior
T2 - A meta-analysis of correlational and experimental evidence
AU - Shipley, Nathan J.
AU - van Riper, Carena J.
N1 - Funding Information:
Our assessment of experimental research indicated that the weighted pooled correlation between pride and PEB was small and statistically significant (r = 0.17) and that the correlation between guilt and PEB was small to medium and statistically significant (r = 0.26). However, we found the difference between the relationship of pride and guilt in relation to both intended and reported/observed PEB was not different in experimental research. This result extends previous research, some of which has indicated pride exerts a stronger influence on PEB than guilt (Schneider et al., 2017) while others have suggested guilt has a stronger influence (Adams et al., 2020; Swim & Bloodhart, 2015). Our finding that pride and guilt did not have a different influence on PEB in experimental studies lies in contrast to previous research and suggests that more work is needed to identify and examine the contexts in which pride and guilt exert different influences on PEB. While findings from this analysis utilize correlational coefficients to estimate effect sizes, the experimental design of the analyzed studies provide supporting evidence for a causal relationship between the emotions of pride and guilt with PEB, which addresses an expressed need to better understand the causal linkages between emotions and PEB (Adams et al., 2020; Chapman et al., 2017).We would like to thank Haley Ware and Tracy Pham for their assistance in reviewing articles. We would also like to thank Benjamin White for his insights regarding statistical analysis. This research was conducted under the support of United States Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture grant [#2018-68002-27918] and University of Illinois, College of Agricultural, Consumer, and Economic Sciences Future Interdisciplinary Research Explorations [grant #ILLU-741-380]. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not reflect the view of our funding agencies.
Funding Information:
We would like to thank Haley Ware and Tracy Pham for their assistance in reviewing articles. We would also like to thank Benjamin White for his insights regarding statistical analysis. This research was conducted under the support of United States Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture grant [# 2018-68002-27918 ] and University of Illinois, College of Agricultural, Consumer, and Economic Sciences Future Interdisciplinary Research Explorations [grant # ILLU-741-380 ]. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not reflect the view of our funding agencies.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2022/2
Y1 - 2022/2
N2 - A rich body of empirical research has posited pride and guilt are psychological forces that affect pro-environmental behavior, yet there is conflicting evidence about how these emotional concepts shape pro-environmental behavior. We report on results from the first meta-analysis that has evaluated the associations of pride and guilt in relation to pro-environmental behavior over a 30-year period. An analysis of 23 correlational studies showed that anticipated pride (r = 0.47) and anticipated guilt (r = 0.39) were significantly correlated with intended and reported pro-environmental behavior, and that anticipated pride had a stronger relationship with behavior than guilt. Results from 12 experimental studies indicated that pride (r = 0.17) and guilt (r = 0.26) were equally strong in their ability to explain variation in pro-environmental behavior. Additionally, a moderator analysis revealed that in experimental studies the effects of both anticipated pride and guilt were significantly correlated with pro-environmental behavior but did not differ from one another, whereas only experienced guilt (and not pride) predicted intended and reported actions. These findings underscore the importance of cumulating previous research to systematically understand the mechanisms that shape patterns of pro-environmental behavior.
AB - A rich body of empirical research has posited pride and guilt are psychological forces that affect pro-environmental behavior, yet there is conflicting evidence about how these emotional concepts shape pro-environmental behavior. We report on results from the first meta-analysis that has evaluated the associations of pride and guilt in relation to pro-environmental behavior over a 30-year period. An analysis of 23 correlational studies showed that anticipated pride (r = 0.47) and anticipated guilt (r = 0.39) were significantly correlated with intended and reported pro-environmental behavior, and that anticipated pride had a stronger relationship with behavior than guilt. Results from 12 experimental studies indicated that pride (r = 0.17) and guilt (r = 0.26) were equally strong in their ability to explain variation in pro-environmental behavior. Additionally, a moderator analysis revealed that in experimental studies the effects of both anticipated pride and guilt were significantly correlated with pro-environmental behavior but did not differ from one another, whereas only experienced guilt (and not pride) predicted intended and reported actions. These findings underscore the importance of cumulating previous research to systematically understand the mechanisms that shape patterns of pro-environmental behavior.
KW - Anticipated emotions
KW - Experienced emotions
KW - Pro-environmental behavior
KW - Random-effects meta-analysis
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U2 - 10.1016/j.jenvp.2021.101753
DO - 10.1016/j.jenvp.2021.101753
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:85122561958
SN - 0272-4944
VL - 79
JO - Journal of Environmental Psychology
JF - Journal of Environmental Psychology
M1 - 101753
ER -