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Social Value Orientations and Decisions to Take Proenvironmental Action 1
Author(s) -
Cameron Linda D.,
Brown Paul M.,
Chapman Judith G.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.1559-1816.1998.tb01726.x
Subject(s) - prosocial behavior , psychology , social psychology , opposition (politics) , value (mathematics) , perception , social value orientations , program director , helping behavior , action (physics) , medical education , medicine , machine learning , neuroscience , politics , political science , computer science , law , economics , microeconomics , physics , quantum mechanics
This study assessed whether social value orientations influence decisions to actively support a proposal for a transportation pollution reduction program. Participants with prosocial or proself orientations were given the opportunity to send letters of support or opposition to the program director. Proself participants were more likely to send letters opposing the program, whereas prosocial participants were more likely to send letters of support. Although proself and prosocial participants reported equivalent support for the program and equivalent perceptions of the program's environmental benefits, proself participants reported higher perceptions of personal costs associated with the program. Social value orientations may lead to differences in environmental behaviors, primarily because of differences in perceptions of the personal costs incurred from engaging in these behaviors.