Using Eco-Guilt to Motivate Environmental Behavior Change

ABSTRACT

Informed by research on trait empathy and eco-guilt and their impacts on environmental behaviors, this paper explores whether the themes from a pro-environment video game spur environmental behavior and intention to engage in future environmental behavior. Hypotheses were tested through a lab experiment and an online experimental survey. Across both studies, eco-guilt was significantly related to environmental behavioral intention. Further, exposure to a trailer for the video game increased environmental behavioral intention among adult participants who reported less pro-environment attitude. Trait empathy was also a significant predictor of environmental behavioral intention. Results indicate that environmental communication needs to harness the power of guilt, as a moral emotion, to promote environmental behavior. Further, visual communication about environmental issues may be particularly effective among individuals who normally do not pay much attention to these topics.

KEYWORDS:

• Eco-guilt
• environmental attitude
• empathy
• environmental behavior

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Melissa M. Moore http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2658-5495

Notes

1 We fully acknowledge that plastic cups are by no means environmentally friendly, but this choice was determined by the need to include a non-obtrusive behavioral measure that also minimize participants’ concern about hygiene.

2 Research has shown a political divide over environmental issues in the US. For instance, Hamilton and Saito (2015) found that Democrats, Independents, Republicans, and Tea Party members all differ significantly in their perceptions of science, the environment, and climate—though it should be noted that Tea Party affiliation was not mutually exclusive to other parties and thus was not included as a party in the current study.