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ABSTRACT
How infectious diseases shape individual minds and behaviors has been of interest to researchers. We conducted four studies to examine whether the threat perception of the COVID-19 pandemic was positively related to pro-environmentalism. Study 1 (N = 1,508) showed that individuals’ threat perception of the pandemic was correlated with their pro-environmental behaviors. Study 2 (N = 241) clarified the causality by manipulating threat perception and found that individuals with high (vs. low) threat perception reported higher pro-environmental willingness. Study 3 (N = 406) revealed that awe for nature mediated this relationship. Study 4 (N = 405) replicated Study 3 more than two years after the outbreak and demonstrated the findings were robust regardless of decreases in infection fear. These findings suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic provides individuals with an opportunity to reconsider the way they treat nature.
Supplementary material
Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2023.2190923
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Data availability statement
The data described in this article are openly available in the Open Science Framework at https://osf.io/e3pv9/.
Open Scholarship
This article has earned the Center for Open Science badges for Open Data and Open Materials through Open Practices Disclosure. The data and materials are openly accessible at https://doi.org/110.1080/17439760.2023.2190923
Notes
1. We embrace the values of openness and transparency in science (http://www.researchtransparency.org/). All data have been made publicly available via the Open Science Framework and can be accessed at https://osf.io/e3pv9/.