“My Worries Are Rational, Climate Change Is Not”: Habitual Ecological Worrying Is an Adaptive Response

Abstract

Qualifications such as “global warming hysteria” and “energy policy schizophrenia” put forward by some climate change skeptics, usually outside the academic arena, may suggest that people who seriously worry about the environment suffer from psychological imbalance. The present study aimed to refute this thesis. While habitual worrying in general is strongly associated with psychopathological symptoms, in a survey a near-zero correlation was found between habitual ecological worrying and pathological worry. Instead, habitual ecological worrying was associated with pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors, and with a personality structure characterized by imagination and an appreciation for new ideas. The study had sufficient statistical power and measures were valid and reliable. The results confirm that those who habitually worry about the ecology are not only lacking in any psychopathology, but demonstrate a constructive and adaptive response to a serious problem. In the public domain, these findings may contribute to a more rational and less emotional debate on climate change and to the prevention of stigmatization of people who are genuinely concerned about our habitat and are prepared to do something about it (“habitual worriers are not crazy”). In the academic arena this study may contribute to environmental psychology (“habitual worrying is part of a green identity”), as well as to the literature on worry and anxiety (“habitual worrying can be a constructive response”).

About the Triggering of UN Sustainable Development Goals and Regenerative Sustainability in Higher Education

“…Our feelings will affect our actions towards climate change issues [39]. While negative feelings can reinforce adaptation [40], positive feelings may be counterproductive in terms of protective attitudes [41]: people are more willing to take action for climate change when they are directly affected and concerned [42], and when they can be rewarded somehow from their actions [43].…”

Promoting Sustainability: Towards a Segmentation Model of Individual and Household Behaviour and Behaviour Change

“…Segment B (‘high potential, willing’) may not seem an obvious target for interventions. However, this segment contains the very people who will be needed to fulfil the sustainability goals in the future (see, e.g., Verplanken and Roy, ). These are consumers who either have already adopted sustainable lifestyles, and may be encouraged in continuing this behaviour, or may be easily be persuaded to switch to sustainable options.…”

The strength of habit

“…Lally, van Jaarsveld, Potts & Wardle, 2010;Mullan, Allom, Fayn & Johnson, 2014;Aarts, Verplanken & van Knippenberg, 1998;Verplanken & Aarts, 1999), a high degree of automaticity (e.g. Verplanken, Friborg, Wang, Trafimow, & Woolf, 2007), or even an emotional reaction (e.g., Verplanken & Fisher, 2014;Verplanken & Roy, 2013), but a habit does not necessitate an affective component. Wood & Neal, 2007;Neal, Wood, Labrecque & Lally, 2012;Orbell & Verplanken, 2010).…”