This article examines the impact of visual images and perspective taking on concern for environmental problems. Participants in the experiment were 193 university students. Results replicated earlier results showing that perspective taking, combined with images of animals harmed by nature, caused an increase in biospheric environmental concerns. In addition, results showed that the empathic dimension of personal distress moderated the relationship between kind of image and kind of perspective on both biospheric and egoistic environmental concerns. Results about the lack of other moderating effects are discussed.
Amérigo, M., Aragonés, J.I., Sevillano, V. & Cortés, B. (2005). La estructura de las creencias sobre la problemática medioambiental [The structure of beliefs about environmental concern]. Psichotema, 17, 246-251.
3.
Batson, C.D., Batson, J.G., Slingsby, J.K., Harrell, K.L., Peekna, H.M., & Todd, R.M. (1991). Empathic joy and the empathy-altruism hypothesis . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 61, 413-426.
4.
Batson, C.D., Batson, J.G., Todd, R.M., Brummett, B.H., Shaw, L.L., & Aldeguer, C.M.R. (1995). Empathy and the collective good: caring for one of the others in a social Dilemma. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 68, 619-631.
5.
Batson, C.D., Dyck, J.L., Brandt, J.R., Batson, J.G., Powell, A.L., McMaster, M.R., & Griffitt, C. (1988). Five studies testing two new egoistic alternatives to the empathy-altruism hypothesis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 55, 52-77.
6.
Clayton, S., & Opotow, S. (2003). Identity and the natural environment. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
7.
Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
8.
Corral-Verdugo, V., Frías-Amenta, M., & Gonzalez-Lomelí, D. (2003). On the relationship between antisocial and anti-environmental behaviors: An empirical study. Population and Environment: A journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, 24, 273-286.
9.
Corraliza, J.A., & Berenguer, J. (2000). Environmental values, beliefs, and actions: a situational approach. Environment and Behavior, 32, 832-848.
10.
Davis, M.H. (1983). Measuring individual differences in empathy: evidence for a multidimensional approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 44, 113-126.
11.
Davis, M.H. (1996). Empathy: A social psychological approach. Boulder, CO: Westview.
12.
Dunlap, R.E., & Van Liere, K.D. (1978). The new environmental paradigm . Journal of Environmental Education, 9, 10-19.
13.
Ecovidrio (2005). El vidrio puede tener muchas vidas. Recíclalo [Glass could have several lives. Recycle it].Retrieved December 30, 2005 from http://www.ecovidrio.es/app/GeneralPaginas.asp?seccion=Newsletter.asp
14.
Kaiser, F.G., & Fuhrer, U. (2003). Ecological behavior's dependency on different forms of knowledge. Applied Psychology: An International Review , 52, 598-613.
15.
Kalof, L., Dietz, T., Guagnano, G., Stern, P.C. (2002). Race, gender and environmentalism: The atypical values and beliefs of White men. Race, Gender and Class, 9, 1-19.
16.
Kals, E., Schumacher, D., & Montada, L. (1999). Emotional affinity toward nature as a motivational basis to protect nature. Environment and Behavior, 31, 178-202.
17.
Milbrath, L.W. (1986). Environmental beliefs and values. In M. G. Hermann (Eds.), Political psychology (97-138). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
18.
Opotow, S. (1993). Animals and the scope of justice. Journal of Social Issues, 49, 71-86.
19.
Opotow, S., & Brook, A. (2003). Identity and exclusion in rangeland conflict. In S. Clayton & S. Opotow (Eds), Identity and the natural environment (pp. 249-272). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
20.
Pérez-Albéniz, A., De Paúl, J., Etxeberría, J., Paz, M., & Torres, E. (2003). Adaptación de Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) al español [Spanish version of Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI)]. Psicothema, 15, 267-272.
21.
Schultz, P.W. (2000). Empathizing with nature: the effects of perspective taking on concern for environmental issues. Journal of Social Issues, 56, 391-406.
22.
Schultz, P.W. (2001). Assessing the structure of environmental concern: Concern for self, other people, and the biosphere. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 21, 327-339.
23.
Schultz, P.W. (2002). Inclusion with nature: The psychology of human-nature relations. In P. Schmuck & P. W. Schultz (Eds.), Psychology of Sustainable Development (pp. 61-78). Norwell, MA: Kluwer Academic.
24.
Schultz, P.W., Gouveia, V.V., Cameron, L., Tankha, G., Schmuck, P., & Franek, M. (2005). Values and their relationship to environmental concern and conservation behavior. Journal of Cross-cultural Psychology, 36, 457-475.
25.
Schultz, P.W., & Stone, W.F. (1994). Authoritarianism and attitudes toward the environment . Environment and Behavior, 26, 25-37.
26.
Schwartz, S.H. (1977). Normative influences on altruism. In L. Berkowitz (Eds.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 10, pp. 221-279). New York: Academic.
27.
Stern, P.C., & Dietz, T. (1994). The value basis of environmental concern. Journal of Social Issues, 50, 65-84.
28.
Stern, P.C., Dietz, T., & Kalof, L. (1993). Value orientations, gender, and environmental concern. Environment and Behavior, 25, 322-348.
29.
Stokols, D. (1990). Instrumental and spiritual views of people-environment relations. American Psychologist, 45, 641-646.
30.
Thompson, S.C.G., & Barton, M.A. (1994). Ecocentric and anthropocentric attitudes toward the environment. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 14, 149-157.
31.
Uzzell, D.L. (2000). The psycho-spatial dimensions of global environmental problems. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 20, 307-318.
White, L.J. (1967). The historical roots of our ecological crisis . Science, 155, 1203-1207.
34.
Wiseman, M., & Bogner, F.X. (2003). A higher-order model of ecological values and its relationship to personality. Personality an Individual Differences, 34, 783-794.
