Understanding Individuals' Environmentally Significant Behavior

November 2005
Citation:
35
ELR 10785
Issue
11
Author
Paul C. Stern

Editor's Summary: Individual behavior impacts the environment, but what impacts individual behavior? Effective laws and regulations, strong financial incentives and penalties, social pressure, and the like leave little room for personal values to influence behavior. It is only when these contextual influences are weak that personal factors are likely to play a larger role. Paul Stern therefore argues that the best way to change behavior depends on the behavior and its context and that interventions in the context are more effective than targeting individuals directly with verbal appeals, information, or other efforts to change attitudes or beliefs. And because a variety of factors influence behavior, creative approaches involving multiple influences on behavior offer the greatest potential for change.

Paul C. Stern is a principal staff officer in the Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education of the National Research Council, where he has worked since 1980. He has directed the council's Committee on the Human Dimensions of Global Change since 1990. He holds a B.A. from Amherst College and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Clark University, all in psychology.
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Understanding Individuals' Environmentally Significant Behavior

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