Environmental Identity in Russia: Validation and Relationship to the Concern for People and Plants

Clayton, Susan; Irkhin, Boris; Нартова-Бочавер, С К

doi:10.17323/1813-8918-2019-1-85-107

Cited by 22 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…There are also studies reporting a link between EID and happiness, life satisfaction, positive emotional affect, vigor (Capaldi et al, 2014), and stress reduction, along with increased attention span (Mayer et al, 2009). Recent studies on Environmental Identity confirm the connection between EID and empathy between people (Clayton, Nartova-Bochaver, & Irkhin, 2019); these results are in line with the findings of K.P. Tam (2013), P.W.…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 88%

Who Benefits from Environmental Identity? Studying Environmental Identity and Mental Wellbeing in Russia

Irkhin¹

2020

Psych. Rus.

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Background. Environmental Identity (EID) is a construct that demonstrates the extent to which people perceive themselves as a part of nature, incorporated in it, and defined by it. This concept, despite being relatively new, has proven to be associated with various beneficial traits such as emotional calmness, vigor, reduced stress, increased attentiveness, and positive mental effect (Kals, Schumacher, & Montada; Pretty et al.; Hartig et al., Raanaas et al.). It is also connected with nature conservation behavior and empathy towards people and nature (Scott & Willits; Paul, Hartmann, & Apaolaza-Ibáñez; Tam; Modi & Patel). While there have been analyses correlating personality traits with other naturerelated concepts-e.g., environmental engagement, environmental concern, and ecological behavior (Milfont & Sibley; Wuertz; Markowitz et al.), there is little evidence of which personality traits are connected with Environmental Identity. Objective. Current research has three objectives: 1) to test the connection between Environmental Identity and Mental Wellbeing on a Russian sample; 2) to discover which personality traits are connected with Environmental Identity; and 3) to find out whether or not these personality traits moderate the Environmental Identity-Mental Wellbeing connection. Three hundred and twelve (312) students, of which 79.2% were females, participated in the study. The majority of participants (90.4%) were undergraduate students at Russian universities under 20 years old. Methods. To perform our study, we used the Environmental Identity scale, the Short Big Five, and the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale. Results. We confirmed the connection between Environmental Identity and Mental Wellbeing on a Russian sample. Openness to Experience was the only significant personality trait predictor of Environmental Identity. Moderation analysis did not reveal any personality traits to be significant moderators between Environmental Identity and Mental Wellbeing. Conclusion. We concluded that the impact of Environmental Identity on Mental Wellbeing does not depend on specific personality traits, suggesting that it has a universal resource function, and is important for Russian people in general in terms of their mental wellness.

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 88%

Who Benefits from Environmental Identity? Studying Environmental Identity and Mental Wellbeing in Russia

Irkhin¹

2020

Psych. Rus.

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“…In some part, the results obtained are in line with previous data regarding the connection between environmental identity and empathy; in actuality, the feeling of connectedness to and rootedness in nature also predicts compassion toward people [10].…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

“…The results do not oppose ethical ideas of the reverence for life theory by Schweitzer [1] and deep ecology by Naess [2], who emphasized people's opportunity in their self-actualization, owing to nature, to transcend beyond their survival and pragmatic goals, and arrive at the position of universalism. This position defines more tolerant attitudes to other people and even other forms of life [10]. Moreover, people may extend their willingness to protect and support other people, starting from attachment to plants [3,4].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Papers are showing a positive contribution of various interactions with plants (walking in parks, gardening, taking care of office plants, etc.) to physical and mental health [9,10]. At the same time, little is known about the "ennobling", "elevating" function of these interactions, e.g., about whether attachment to plants is positively connected to moral attitudes to other people or not.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…At the same time, little is known about the "ennobling", "elevating" function of these interactions, e.g., about whether attachment to plants is positively connected to moral attitudes to other people or not. Previous research has shown, however, that environmental identity is more strongly connected to egoistic than to biospheric and altruistic values, and to natural than social empathy; however, all of these connections are positive [10]. In the brilliant review by Elings [9], it was shown that gardening gave the participants peacefulness, quiet and fascination, helped them maintain positive relations with others, and increased their feeling of purpose in life and self-acceptance.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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If People Are Attached to Plants, Do They Love Other People? Case of the Russian Youth

Нартова-Бочавер

Muhortova

2020

Behavioral Sciences

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People’s attachment to the plant world makes a great contribution to the maintenance of psychological well-being. At the same time, little is known regarding the contribution of attitudes to plants to people’s morality; the current study is aimed at filling this gap. We assumed that the more positive the attitude to plants is, the higher the level of moral motives is. The survey was conducted on the Russian sample; 257 participants (students from Moscow universities, 199 female, Mage = 21.1, SDage = 2.5) were recruited. The following tools were used: a questionnaire People and Plants (PaP) consisting of five sub-scales (joy, esthetics, practice, closeness to nature, and ecology) and Moral Motives Model scale (MMM scale) including six sub-scales (self-restraint, not harming, social order, self-reliance (industriousness), helping/fairness, and social justice). It was found that all parameters of the positive attitudes to plants, except practice, were strongly positively connected with moral motives. Multi-regression analysis allowed developing certain models demonstrating the contribution of attachment to the plant world to people’s morality. The proscriptive motives (especially self-restraint) are more sensitive to attitudes to flora as compared to prescriptive motives; prescriptive motive self-reliance was not predicted by the attitude to flora at all. Moreover, the findings seem to be gender-sensitive (predictions are higher in females). The obtained results are discussed referring to the reverence for life ethics by Schweitzer, deep ecology by Næss, biophilia hypothesis by Wilson, and psychology of moral expansiveness by Crimston et al.

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Orientations toward ‘people’ and ‘things’ are associated with nature connectedness in a representative sample of the French adult population

et al. 2021

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Identifying the determinants of people's connection with nature is crucial for the future of nature conservation. The sense of connection with nature may be defined as how one relates to the natural world or sees oneself as part of it. A part of this connection is related to what is called "Environmental Identity", which begins to form early in life under the influence of experiences with nature. Differentiated traits of appreciation of one's "environments"-defined as the things, places, and people surrounding individuals throughout their lifetime-have been described in psychological studies on personality. Theorized as "General Orientations," these consist of specific forms of selectivity in individuals' attention, which differs from their values and encourages them to respond to certain stimuli in a specific way. The literature describes two general orientations, namely toward the social environment or "people" (PO) and toward the physical environment or "things" (TO). Despite the potential contributions of PO and TO for the study of nature connectedness, few attempts have been made to explore how these dimensions interrelate. Here, we analyzed survey responses from the ELIPSS panel, a representative sample of the French adult metropolitan population (N = 1788), to test the hypothesis that General Orientations, especially PO, as a personality-like trait are related to higher EID. We found that PO and TO were positively correlated with EID (strongly and moderately, respectively), and appeared to mediate the association between gender and EID. These findings raise the question as to whether General Orientations correspond to different ways of building connections with nature.

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Environmental Identity in Russia: Validation and Relationship to the Concern for People and Plants

Cited by 22 publications

References 28 publications

Who Benefits from Environmental Identity? Studying Environmental Identity and Mental Wellbeing in Russia

Who Benefits from Environmental Identity? Studying Environmental Identity and Mental Wellbeing in Russia

If People Are Attached to Plants, Do They Love Other People? Case of the Russian Youth

Orientations toward ‘people’ and ‘things’ are associated with nature connectedness in a representative sample of the French adult population

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