Any scientific attempt to understand, predict, or promote pro-environmental behavior requires an adequate measurement tool for the assessment of pro-environmental behavior. The multidisciplinary interest in pro-environmental behavior has generated a large variety of such tools, ranging from domain-general and domain-specific self-report measures, field observations conducted with the help of informants, trained observers, or technical devices, to behavioral tasks for use in the laboratory. The present review discusses this broad spectrum of existing approaches to the measurement of pro-environmental behavior, their strengths and weaknesses, as well as possibilities to improve upon them. From this review, we deduce several recommendations for the development, selection, and application of measures in proenvironmental behavior research. We conclude by stressing the importance of established and validated measures for a cumulative science of pro-environmental behavior.

Type of instrumentality has indeed a differential influence on motivational, cognitive, and behavioural variables.

Neuroscientific studies demonstrate that erotic stimuli activate the reward circuitry processing monetary and drug rewards. Theoretically, a general reward system may give rise to nonspecific effects: exposure to "hot stimuli" from one domain may thus affect decisions in a different domain. We show that exposure to sexy cues leads to more impatience in intertemporal choice between monetary rewards. Highlighting the role of a general reward circuitry, we demonstrate that individuals with a sensitive reward system are more susceptible to the effect of sex cues, that the effect generalizes to nonmonetary rewards, and that satiation attenuates the effect. (c) 2008 by JOURNAL OF CONSUMER RESEARCH, Inc..

People frequently fail to see themselves as environmentally conscious consumers; one reason for this is that they are oftentimes prone to dismissing their more common ecological behaviors (e.g., avoid littering) as non-diagnostic for that particular self-image. The cueing of commonly performed ecological behaviors as environmentally friendly (what we call positive cueing) renders both cued and non-cued common ecological behaviors more diagnostic for the inference of pro-environmental attitudes (Study 1). As a result, positive cueing increases the likelihood that people will see themselves as consumers who are concerned with the degree to which their behavior is environmentally responsible (Study 2). The cueing of common ecological behaviors leads participants to choose environmentally friendly products with greater frequency, and even to use scrap paper more efficiently (Study 3). We discuss the implications for effective social marketing campaigns.

In the latest decades, emotions have become an important research topic in all behavioral sciences, and not the least in advertising. Yet, advertising literature on how to measure emotions is not straightforward. The major aim of this article is to give an update on the different methods used for measuring emotions in advertising and to discuss their validity and applicability. We further draw conclusions on the relation between emotions and traditional measures of advertising effectiveness. We finally formulate recommendations on the use of the different methods and make suggestions for future research.

Drawing on the social intuitionist model, the authors studied the hypothesis that social value orientations are expressed automatically in behavior. They compared spontaneous and more deliberated decisions in the dictator game and confirmed that social values determine behavior when responses are based on the automatic system. By means of both mediation and experimental analyses, the authors further demonstrate that the automatic expression of social value orientations is mediated by perceptions of interpersonal closeness. A reasoning process can subsequently override these automatic responses and disconnect decisions from perceptions of interpersonal closeness. This results in lower levels of other-regarding behavior, at least for prosocials.

Two studies investigated the role of impulsivity in procrastinators' problems. In the first study, 147 freshmen completed questionnaires measuring the Big Five personality factors, a broad impulsivity scale, and Lay's general procrastination scale, and their perceptions concerning a compulsory course. The data revealed that procrastination was closely related to a lack of perseverance, that is, the inability to complete projects. This relation explained a large part of the well documented relation between conscientiousness and procrastination. In the second study, a subsample of these students was followed up during 11 weeks before their exams. They had to provide their study intentions and behaviour, the reasons why they failed to enact their intentions, and the perceived impact of studying on their final grade. The data revealed that all students tend to postpone the bulk of their study activities to the last week before an exam, and that this trend could nicely be described by a hyperbolic curve. The results also revealed that procrastinators postponed more of their intentions, mainly because of fun alternatives, but did not intend to study less or later. On the contrary, they even seemed to compensate for their vulnerability by formulating more intentions earlier. Procrastinators emerged as highly motivated students who lack the ability to ward off temptations and distractions during their studying activities. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The present research examined the in¯uence of trust, accountability, and self-monitoring on individual decision makers' willingness to contribute in a give-some game and in an experimental public goods dilemma. Previous research has shown that trust and contributions are positively related such that high trusters generally contribute more than low trusters. The present research questions the pervasiveness of this relation by arguing that low trusters may increase their contributions to the same level as those of high trusters, but only under circumstances where their decisions are highly identi®able to their interaction partner(s). Both studies showed that strong perceptions of trust, high accountability and high self-monitoring in¯uenced contributions positively. In line with predictions, individuals low in trust contributed up to the same level as high trusters when accountability was high rather than low. Moreover, this interaction between trust and accountability was only found among those classi®ed as high self-monitors. Our results suggest that the well-known positive relation between trust and contributions may take a different form when situational cues and individual predispositions are taken into account.