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Journal of Environmental Psychology 28 (2008) 5162 www.elsevier.com/locate/jep

Emotions, habits and rational choices in ecological behaviours: The case of recycling and use of public transportation
Giuseppe Carrus, Paola Passafaro, Mirilia Bonnes
` degli Studi Roma Tre, Dipartimento di Studi dei Processi Formativi, Culturali e Interculturali nella Societa ` Contemporanea, Universita Via del Castro Pretorio 20, 00185 Rome, Italy Available online 6 October 2007

Abstract Two eld studies examined the role of attitudes, subjective norms, perceived control, anticipated emotions, past behaviour and desire in the prediction of pro-environmental behavioural intention. The model of goal-directed behaviour (MGB) was applied to predict intentions to use public transportation instead of the private car for going to work (Study 1, N 180), and to recycle household waste (Study 2, N 154). Multiple regression and structural equation modeling were used to test the hypotheses in studies 1 and 2, respectively. As expected, results of the two studies indicate that negative anticipated emotions and past behaviour are signicant predictors of desire to engage in pro-environmental action. Desire, in turn, positively predicts pro-environmental behavioural intentions. A direct link between past behaviour and intentions was also detected. Implications of the results for the promotion of proenvironmental behaviour are discussed. r 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Anticipated emotions; Past behaviour; Pro-environmental behavioural intentions; Public transportation use; Recycling

1. Introduction The prediction and change of human behaviour impacting environmental quality represents a priority issue in the current scientic, political, and cultural agenda all over the world. As a consequence, environmental psychological research has given increased attention to pro-environmental (or ecological) behaviours over the last two decades (Bonnes, Carrus, & Passafaro, 2006; Kaiser, 1998; Stern, 2000; Stern & Oskamp, 1987; Vining & Ebreo, 2002). Despite this increased concern, still there are several psychological factors that have been not sufciently addressed by environment behaviour studies in this eld. Among these we can mention variables such as emotions and past behaviour, that will be specically in the focus of this paper. In a recent review, Vining and Ebreo (2002) noted for example how the role of emotions was largely ignored in conservation behaviour studies, with only some exceptions (e.g., Grob, 1995; Smith, Haugtvedt, & Petty, 1994; Vining, 1992).
Corresponding author. Tel.: +39 06 4470 3450; fax: +39 06 4470 3879.

E-mail address: g.carrus@uniroma3.it (G. Carrus). 0272-4944/$ - see front matter r 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jenvp.2007.09.003

At a general level, the scarce consideration of affective factors in the prediction of ecological behaviour is not surprising. A more general neglect of emotions characterized in fact cognitive psychology and neuroscience throughout the twentieth century (Damasio, 1998a). Nevertheless, an increased attention to the role played by emotion in human cognition and decision making is emerging within psychology, and in other scientic domains such as neuroscience (LeDoux, 1995; Damasio, 2001). This integrated vision of emotion and cognition is now replacing a vision, largely dominating across the mid-twentieth century, that considered emotions and deliberate cognition as separate spheres in human mental functioning (Damasio, 1998a). Leading scholars in the eld of neuroscience have also explicitly mentioned how the interplay between emotion and reasoned processes in human decision making could be a crucial issue for the study of human concern for the environment (Damasio, 1998b). A second purpose of this paper is to contribute to the development of theoretical frameworks for the study of attitudebehaviour relations in the ecological domain.

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The need for broader models in this domain has been variously remarked in the past, for both research and management purposes (Bamberg & Schmidt, 2000; Vining & Ebreo, 2002). A way for contributing to the construction of theories of ecological behaviour is to test models for the prediction of human deliberate action elaborated outside the environmental psychological domain. This kind of studies can be particularly helpful if the considered model introduces constructs that have been neglected or underestimated by previous theoretical elaboration and empirical investigation. Alternatively, studies of this kind could be helpful if the proposed model is able to shed new light on the relationships among known predictors of a targeted psychological variable. A theory that seems to satisfy both this two requisites is the model of goal-directed behaviour (MGB) by Perugini and Bagozzi (2001, 2004). The MGB was proposed as an extension of the theory of planned behavior (TPB; Ajzen, 1991). The MGB could be of particular interest for the study of ecological behaviour because it incorporates, besides the original TPB components, the constructs of past behaviour and anticipated emotions. These variables, as previously mentioned, were not sufciently considered by previous research on ecological behaviour. In addition, the MGB introduces a distinction between desire and intention as variables motivating human deliberate action. To some extent, past behaviour and emotions have been addressed by the environmental psychological literature. However, these variables either were differently operationalized or they were not considered together with variables such as attitudes, social norms and perceived control for the prediction of ecological behavioural intentions. Desire, instead, is a potentially meaningful variable which, to our knowledge, has never been explicitly addressed by empirical studies on ecological behaviour. In sum, while previous studies showed the MGB effectiveness in the prediction of actions such as bodyweight regulation, studying behaviour, and money-saving behaviour (Canova & Manganelli Rattazzi, 2004; Leone, Perugini, & Ercolani, 2004; Perugini & Bagozzi, 2001) the entire MGB framework has not been applied to the study of ecological behaviours, so far. In the remaining of this paper we will present a brief review on the role of past behaviour and emotions in the performance of ecological behaviour. Then the main tenets of the MGB will be summarized. Finally, the results of two eld studies will be presented. The studies tested the plausibility of the MGB for the prediction of intentions to engage in two different ecological behaviours: using public transportation instead of the private car to go to work and household recycling. 2. The role of past behaviour and emotions in ecological behaviour Various authors put forward the idea that past behaviour and habits can be salient predictors of human deliberate action (e.g., Aarts, Verplanken, & Van Knippenberg, 1998;

Bentler & Speckart, 1981; Ouellette & Wood, 1998). In a meta-analyses, Ouellette and Wood (1998) suggested that past behaviour may impact future behaviour through two different paths. For behaviours that are performed in relatively stable contexts, past behaviour should work through the process of habit formation. In this case, the process regulating the initiation and control over the behavioural performance becomes automatic. For behaviours that are performed in less stable contexts, past behaviour should work through the process of intention formation. In this case, the role of past behaviour is more likely to be mediated by conscious and reasoned decision making processes. Thus, past behaviour might contribute, together with attitudes, norms, perceived control, or other potential predictors, to the formation of intentional plans of action. Empirical support for this idea has been provided in a variety of behavioural domains, including ecological behaviour. Cheung, Chan, and Wong (1999), for example, found that wasted paper recycling was strongly predicted by the frequency with which the same behaviour was enacted during the month before. Similarly, Terry, Hogg, and White (1999) found this variable as related to household recycling. Likewise, past behaviour appeared as a strong predictor of travel mode choice (Aarts & Dijksterhuis 2000; Bamberg & Schmidt, 2003; Nenci, Carrus, Caddeo, & Meloni, 2007). Despite these empirical evidences, this variable has not been explicitly integrated within any model of ecological behaviour, so far. One reason could be the fact that, once added to any model, this factor tends to explain most of the variance in intention or behaviour, thus often rendering not signicant the other predictors. Apparently, this does not happen in the MGB, where the effects of other predictors seem to emerge as well (Perugini & Bagozzi, 2001, 2004). Another argument in favour of the use of the MGB in the ecological behaviour domain is the explicit consideration of anticipated emotions. As previously stated, claims for a more explicit consideration of emotions in the study of human reasoning can be found in several disciplinary domains, including environmental psychology. An intriguing insight is offered by recent developments in neuroscience (e.g., Damasio, 1998b). Emotions are in fact seen as a fundamental mechanism at the basis of human evolution and adaptation to the changing environment. A stable concern for the environment can also be seen as a fundamental task of current human societies, in order to achieve the goal of future survival. Therefore, as Damasio (1998b) suggested, it is likely that a well tempered combination of cognitive and affective processes can drive human decision to engage in pro-ecological behaviour. In the conservation behaviour domain, a recent chapter by Vining and Ebreo(2002) suggested how both positive and negative emotions could be predictors of ecological behaviour, or mediators of other predictors. In a similar

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vein, it is arguable that the impact of positive and negative emotions on conservation behaviour could be mediated by other psychological factors. Different empirical evidences seem to offer support to these claims. Kals, Schumacher, and Montada (1999) stated that ecological behaviour cannot be considered as the mere result of a rational choice. According to these authors, factors such as emotional afnity toward nature and love of nature play an important role. Similar arguments were put forward by Vining (1992). Studies on personal responsibility found that affective factors such as feeling of guilty, indignation about insufcient nature conservation, and interest in nature may prompt ecological behaviour (Kals, 1996). Other studies showed how positive emotional experiences in nature can lead to natureconservation behaviour (Finger, 1994; Langeheine & Lehmann, 1986). According to Vining and Ebreo (2002), evidence of this kind suggests that emotions drive ecological action through more general motivational processes. This idea is also consistent with the so-called biophilia hypotheses by Kellert and Wilson (1993). Motivation is also a constitutive part of reasoned action models. Indeed, previous research showed the inuence of affective measures of attitude in the prediction of private car use among college students (Bamberg & Schmidt, 2003). In particular, this latter study showed how the integration of emotional components within expectancy-value models could be useful in the prediction of this specic environmentally relevant behaviour. In sum, many cues seem to indicate that both past behaviour and emotional variables could be fruitfully integrated within rational choice models, in order to better explain individual ecological performance. A coherent rationale for the joint consideration of past behaviour, emotions, motivational factors and intentions in the prediction of deliberate behaviour is offered by the model of goal-directed behaviour by Perugini and Bagozzi (2001, 2004).

3. The model of goal-directed behaviour The MGB encompasses the original constituting factors of Ajzens (1991) theory of planned behavior (attitudes, subjective norms, perceived control, behavioural intentions and behaviour), plus a set of other predictors: anticipated emotions, past behaviour and desire (see Fig. 1). The TPB has been already successfully applied in various domains of ecological behaviour (Staats, 2003). The major difference between the TPB and MGB concerns the direct predictors of intentions. These, according to the MGB, are the desire to perform a certain behaviour and the frequency with which that behaviour has been performed in the past. From a theoretical point of view, the role of desire in human decision making was broadly recognized by philosophers, but rarely investigated by social psychologists. These, instead, have often treated it as a synonym of intention. Indeed, social psychologists studied the desirability of human goals, focusing mostly on the value attributed to the outcomes of a certain goal-directed action. Conversely, less attention has been directed to desire as a motivational factor within the decision process. Perugini and Bagozzi (2004, p. 71) dened desire as a state of mind whereby an agent has a personal motivation to perform an action or to achieve a goal. Such motivation is based on an integration of different sources of appraisals (e.g. emotional, evaluative, social) and represents the rst step towards a decision to act, typically followed by an intention to do so. Therefore, desires should be distinguished from concepts such as intentions, attitudes and goals. Desires, compared to intentions, should be perceived as less feasible and less linked to a nal goal or outcome, and may refer to a wider and indenite temporal frame. Indeed, empirical evidence showed that desires, compared to intentions, are perceived as less performable and less connected to actions, and are enacted over longer time frames (Perugini & Bagozzi, 2004, Study 1). It has also been shown that an action which is both desired and

Attitude

Past Behaviour (Frequency)

Subjective Norms Desire Positive Anticipated Emotio ns Negative Anticipated Emotio ns Perceived Behavio ural Control Past behaviour (Recency ) Intention Behaviour

Fig. 1. The model of goal-directed behavior.

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intended is perceived as more feasible than an action which is only desired (Perugini & Bagozzi, 2004, Study 2). A second main difference between the TPB and MGB concerns the role of past behaviour in the prediction of intention and behaviour. The inclusion of past behaviour should allow to incorporate information concerning automatic aspects of goal-directed behaviours not reected in the variables included in the TPB (Perugini & Bagozzi, 2001, p. 80). A third set of predictors incorporated by the MGB refers to positive and negative anticipated emotions. These are conceived as predictors of desire, parallel to attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control. According to Perugini and Bagozzi (2001), anticipated emotions and attitudes should not overlap, as attitudes and emotions differ for three reasons. First, attitudes are focused on behaviour itself while emotions, as operationalized within the MGB, are focused on the achievement of personal goals. Second, attitudes are the result of a consolidated association between a certain evaluative reaction and a certain object or action. Anticipated emotions derive instead from a self-regulatory reaction in response to the perspective of achieving or not achieving a certain goal (Bagozzi, Baumgartner, & Pieters, 1998; Perugini & Bagozzi, 2001). Third, attitudes are commonly measured using bipolar items, forcing respondents to assume either a favourable or an unfavourable position with respect to the attitude object. Conversely, anticipated emotions are measured within the MGB using unipolar items allowing respondents to distinctly report positive and negative affects. In this view, positive and negative anticipated emotions are conceived as different constructs, so that they can be either positively or negatively related, or even independent (Bagozzi, Wong, & Yi, 1999). 4. Aims and hypotheses The main aim of the present paper is to assess the role of emotions, past behaviour and desire in the prediction of ecological behavioural intentions. On the basis of the above reviewed literature, our major theoretical anchoring is represented by the model of goal-directed behaviour (Perugini & Bagozzi, 2001). Specically, our major hypotheses are that anticipated emotions (either positive or negative), frequency of past behaviour, attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control will signicantly predict the desire to perform ecological behaviours. Desire, in turn, together with frequency of past behaviour, should predict intention to perform the ecological behaviour considered. To test these hypotheses, two empirical studies were carried out, concerning two different ecological behaviours: the use of public transportation instead of the private car to go to work (Study 1) and household recycling (Study 2). The results of these two studies will be presented and discussed in the remaining part of the paper. In particular, we tried to follow a more exploratory approach

in the rst study. Then, a second study was conducted in order to replicate the ndings, and to overcome the major shortcomings, of Study 1. 5. Study 1: Use of public transportation 5.1. Method 5.1.1. Participants A total of 180 residents in two Italian cities (Rome and Salerno) participated to the study by lling in a questionnaire on the use of public transportation to go to work, during the rst trimester of the year 2004. Trained interviewers administered the questionnaires. Participants were recruited in informal places of their living cities (shops, city streets, malls, squares) and were asked to participate in a University survey on public transportation, specifying that it would have taken about 20 min. Participants were also assured of the anonymous character of the survey. Socio-demographic characteristics (gender, age and educational level) were purposively balanced during the process of data collection. This was made by assigning to the interviewers the task of contacting an approximately equal number of participants in the main socio-demographic variables (gender, range of age, education level). The study involved 90 females (50%) and 90 males (50%). Age ranged between 18 and 84 (M 43; S.D. 13). Education level was primary school for 2 (1%) participants, junior high school for 36 (20%) participants, senior high school for 97 (54%) participants, and university degree for 45 (25%) participants. 5.1.2. Measures A paper-and-pencil questionnaire measuring attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control, positive anticipated emotions, negative anticipated emotions, frequency of past behaviour, desire and intentions to use public transportation instead of the private car to go to work was used. These variables were measured following Perugini and Bagozzi (2001). In particular: Attitudes were measured through a semantic differential introduced by the following statement: For me, using public transportation instead of the private car to go to work is y.. Responses were recorded on a 5-point bipolar scale featuring the following adjectives: good/bad; appropriate/inappropriate; right/wrong; pleasant/unpleasant; boring/funny; harmful/benecial; useful/useless. Subjective norms were measured through the following two items: Most people important to me think that I should use public transportation instead of the private car to go to work; Most people important to me would agree if I use public transportation instead of the private car to go to work. Responses to these items were recorded on a 5-point bipolar scale, ranging from 1 (completely disagree) to 5 (completely agree). Perceived behavioural control was measured through two items, asking respondents to rate how difcult/easy and

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complicated/simple it was for them to use public transportation instead of the private car to go to work. Responses were recorded on a 5-point bipolar scale, ranging from 1 (extremely difcult/complicated) to 5 (extremely easy/ simple). Frequency of past behaviour was measured through the following item: How often did you use public transportation instead of the private car to go to work during the last two weeks?. Responses were recorded on a 5-point scale, ranging from 1 (never) to 5 (always). Positive anticipated emotions were measured by a set of 7 items, introduced by a question expressed in the conditional form: If during the next two weeks you will use public transportation instead of the private car to go to work, how much do you think you would feely. The items featured the following emotions: delighted, excited, happy, glad, satised, proud, self-assured. Participants had to report the felt intensity of their anticipated emotions on a 5-point bipolar scale ranging from 1 (not at all) to 5 (completely). Negative anticipated emotions were measured by a set of 9 items, introduced by a question expressed in the conditional form: If during the next two weeks you WILL NOT use public transportation instead of the private car to go to work, how much do you think you would feely. The items featured the following emotions: angry, frustrated, unsatised, discontented, guilty, sad, disappointed, depressed, fearful. Participants had to report the felt intensity of their anticipated emotions on a 5-point bipolar scale ranging from 1 (completely) to 5 (not at all). Desire was measured through the following two items: I desire to use public transportation instead of the private car to go to work during the next two weeks; My desire to use public transportation instead of the private car to go to work is.... Responses to these items were recorded on a 5-point bipolar scale, ranging from 1 (extremely false/ weak) to 5 (extremely true/strong). Behavioural intentions were measured through the following two items: During the next to weeks I intend to use public transportation instead of the private car to go to work; During the next two week I will use public transportation instead of the private car to go to work. Responses to these items were recorded using a 5-point bipolar scale, ranging from 1 (unlikely/undecided) to 5 (likely/decided).

factors was compared with a basic model, where all the constructs loaded simultaneously on a unique latent factor. Cronbachs a was computed to check for the internal consistency of all the measures, with the exception of past behaviour (measured through a single-item). Aggregate scores were then calculated for the multi-item measures, and used in Hierarchical Multiple Regression models for the test of hypotheses. 5.2. Results 5.2.1. Checks on discriminant validity, internal consistency and collinearity The CFA conrmed the discriminant validity of our measures. A model where attitudes, positive and negative anticipated emotions, desire, and intentions loaded each on separate latent factors showed acceptable t levels (w2 (44) 62.36; p .035; RMSEA .05; CFI .99), with good lambda estimates (o.70). Conversely, a basic 1-factor model did not adequately reproduce our observed matrix (w2 (54) 876.3; p .000; RMSEA .30; CFI .52). Descriptive statistics, internal consistency and bivariate correlations among all variables are displayed in Table 1. Prior to the test of hypotheses, specic collinearity statistics were checked for, because of some signicant correlations emerging among predictors. The tolerance index was controlled to this purpose. In no case a tolerance value lower than .30 emerged. This rules out the possibility of multi-collinearity among predictors. 5.2.2. Test of hypotheses A rst set of multiple regressions was performed to predict Desire to use public transportation instead of the private car to go to work, following a hierarchical approach. In a rst block, attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control were inserted as predictors. In a second block, positive and negative anticipated emotions were added. In a third block, the contribution of past behaviour was assessed. Results are displayed in Table 2. Taken together, the original TPB variables are able to account for a signicant proportion of variance in the criterion, although only subjective norms and perceived control emerge as signicant predictors of desire. In line with our expectations, positive and negative anticipated emotions are also signicant predictors of the desire to use public transportation instead of the private car to go to work, independently of the TPB variables. The same occurs for past behaviour, which positively predicts desire, independently of the other variables included in the model. A second set of multiple regressions was performed to predict Intentions to use public transportation instead of the private car to go to work. Again, a hierarchical approach was followed. In a rst block, attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control, plus positive and negative anticipated emotions were inserted

5.1.3. Statistical analysis A Conrmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was performed to empirically assess the discriminant validity of the new constructs introduced by the MGB (positive and negative anticipated emotions and desire). This test was made by comparing nested models, using aggregate of items as observed indicators. In particular, a model where attitudes, positive anticipated emotions, negative anticipated emotions, desire, and intentions loaded each on separate latent

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56 G. Carrus et al. / Journal of Environmental Psychology 28 (2008) 5162 Table 1 Bivariate correlations, reliability check and descriptive statistics, Study 1 (using public transportation) Variables 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Attitudes Subjective norms Perceived behavioural control Positive anticipated emotions Negative anticipated emotions Past behaviour Desire Intentions 1 .86 .27 .24 .19 .18 .16 .31 .26 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Mean scores 3.5 2.8 2.9 2.0 4.4 2.5 2.3 2.6 (0.9) (1.2) (1.3) (1.0) (0.8) (1.5) (1.3) (1.5)

.80 .42 .43 .39 .55 .56 .50

.94 .21 .21 .58 .54 .50

.90 .64 .36 .46 .26

.93 .38 .50 .36

/ .72 .76 .95 .68 .79

Note: All correlations are signicant for po.05 or lower. Cronbachs a are reported in the diagonal. Past behaviour was measured through a single item. Standard deviations are reported in brackets. Table 2 Hierarchical regression predicting desire to use public transportation instead of private car to go to work Criterion: Desire b coefcients Adjusted R2 Step 3 .07 .15* .11* .52* .14* .12* .23* .15* .64* .47* .12* .08* .44* R2 change

Step 1 Attitude Subjective Norms Perceived behavioural control Step 2 Positive anticipated emotions Negative anticipated emotions Step 3 Past behaviour

Step 1 .08 .41* .33*

Step 2 .05 .28* .32*

Note: Coefcients signicant for po.05 or lower are marked with an asterisk and reported in bold. Table 3 Hierarchical regression predicting intentions to use public transportation instead of private car to go to work Criterion: Intentions b coefcients Step 1 .07 .29* .33* .06 .21* Step 2 .07 .08 .02 .12 .07. .62* .55* .22* .24* Adjusted R2 .37* R2 change

Step 1 Attitude Subjective Norms Perceived behavioural control Positive anticipated emotions Negative anticipated emotions Step 2 Past behaviour Desire

Note: Coefcients signicant for po.05 or lower are marked with an asterisk and reported in bold.

as predictors. In a second block, past behaviour and desire were added. Results are displayed in Table 3. At the rst step, only subjective norms, perceived control and negative anticipated emotions emerge as signicant

predictors of intentions. As expected, these effects disappear when controlling for the effects of desire. Also, past behaviour is a signicant predictor of behavioural intentions, parallel to desire. This result is again coherent with the general postulates of the MGB. Taken together, results seem to support our main hypotheses, concerning the role of emotions and past behaviour in the performance of pro-environmental action. In particular, some of the main postulates of the MGB seem to be valid also in the specic behavioural domain considered. First, in line with the MGB, both anticipated emotions and past behaviour seem to predict pro-environmental behavioural intentions, independently from variables such as attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived control. However, whereas the effects of anticipated emotions is mediated by a volitional factor such as desire, past behaviour emerge as a more direct predictor of behavioural intentions. Such a pattern is again compatible with the general MGB postulates. Some shortcomings might however be noted in these results. One is represented by the null effect of attitudes in the prediction of desire and intentions to perform ecological behaviours. This nding is not entirely compatible with the TPB and the MGB postulates. A second problem concerns the role of positive anticipated emotions in the prediction of behavioural intentions. In fact, neither a direct nor a mediated effect of this variable upon intentions was detected. Again, such a nding seem to partly contradict the MGB frame. The former aspect could be explained by attitudinal ambivalence. Recent studies have shown how ambivalent environmental attitudes are less predictive of pro-environmental behavioural intentions (Costarelli & Colloca, 2004). The latter aspect could be explained by the signicant correlation found between positive and negative anticipated emotions (r -.64). This could have weakened the relation between positive emotions and behavioural intentions. The different patterns of relation with intentions indicate, however, that positive and negative anticipated emotions are not the same construct. This idea is entirely compatible with the MGB postulates. A second study was conducted on a different pro-environmental behavioural domain, and involving different participants, with the

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specic purpose of replicating the ndings of Study 1 and addressing its main shortcomings. Therefore, the model tested in Study 2 was specied on the basis of the ndings emerged in Study 1. 6. Study 2: Household recycling 6.1. Method 6.1.1. Participants A total of 154 residents in two Italian cities (Rome and Salerno) participated to the second study, by lling in a questionnaire on household recycling behaviour, during the rst trimester of 2004. Again, the socio-demographic characteristics (gender, age and educational level) were purposively balanced among the participants during the process of data collection, with the same procedure as in Study 1. The study involved 71 females (46%) and 83 males (54%). Age ranged between 18 and 84 (M 41; S.D. 16). Education level was primary school for 8 (5%) participants, junior high school for 12 (8%) participants, senior high school for 67 (43.5%) participants, and university degree for 67 (43.5%) participants. 6.1.2. Procedures, measures and statistical analyses Procedure and measures were the same as in Study 1, but the wording of the items was adapted to the different behavioural domain considered (i.e., engaging in household recycling). For Study 2, structural equation modeling (SEM) with latent variables was performed to test the hypotheses (Bollen, 1989), using LISREL 8.3. We choose this differentand more robuststatistical technique because of the more conrmatory purpose of the second study. To assess the t of the model, we relied on various indexes besides the classic w2 test. The high sensitivity of w2 to sample size may in fact result in an over-estimation of even small differences between the observed and the predicted matrix. This can erroneously lead to reject acceptable solutions (Bollen, 1989). Therefore, the RMSEA (Root Mean Square Error of Approximation), SRMR (Standardized Root Mean Square Residuals), NNFI (Non-Normed Fit Index) and CFI (Comparative Fit Index) indexes were also considered. As stated, the model was specied on the basis of the results of Study 1. Therefore, the tested model did not include positive anticipated emotions. The percentage of respondents with college degree was quite high compared to Study 1. For this reason we checked for any eventual relation between education level (and other socio-demographic variables) and the relevant constructs of our model. In no case a correlation higher than .25 emerged between socio-demographic characteristics and either the independent (attitudes, subjective norms, perceived control, anticipated emotions, past behaviour) or the dependent variables (desire and intentions). Therefore, the sociodemographic variables were not included in the tested model. Aggregate sets of items were computed and used as

observed indicators for each latent construct considered. This aggregation allowed simplifying the model, reducing at the same time its measurement error component. Prior to the model testing, a check for the discriminant validity of the scales used to measure anticipated emotions, desire and intentions was performed, using the same procedure as in Study 1. Results were similar to Study 1, conrming the discriminant validity of our measures. 6.2. Results Descriptive statistics, internal consistency and bivariate correlations among latent variables are displayed in Table 4. The nal SEM model contained 14 observed variables and 7 latent factors. Fig. 2 shows the results of the SEM predicting intentions to engage in household recycling. Results indicate a satisfactory t of the model and conrm the pattern emerged in Study 1 in support of our main Hypotheses. The non signicant Chi-square (w2 (60) 85.8; p .016) and the other t indexes lead to accept the model (RMSEA .053; SRMR .039; CFI .98; NNFI .97). The model accounts for satisfactory proportions of variance in both desire and intentions to engage in household recycling (66% and 82%, respectively). As far as the relations among the latent factors are concerned, results show that both negative anticipated emotions and frequency of past behaviour are signicant predictors of desire (b .23 and .41, respectively). Among the other predictors, only subjective norms showed a signicant relation with desire (b .20), whereas no effects emerged for attitudes and perceived behavioural control. Also, in line with the MGB postulates, both desire and frequency of past behaviour signicantly predict intention to recycle (b .26 and .71, respectively).

Table 4 Bivariate correlations, reliability check and descriptive statistics, Study 2 (recycling) Variables 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Mean scores 4.6 (0.7) 3.6 (0.9) 3.4 (1.0) 2.0 (1.0)

1. Attitudes 2. Subjective norms 3. Perceived behavioural control 4. Negative anticipated emotions 5. Past behaviour 6. Desire 7. Intentions

.74 .32* .70 .16 .11 .88 .26* .40* .23* .94

.24* .20* .46* .42* / 2.9 (1.4) .42* .43* .41* .59* .62* .94 3.3 (1.2) .35* .32* .44* .46* .77* .68* .87 3.3 (1.3)

Note: Correlations signicant for po.05 or lower are marked with an asterisk and reported in bold. Cronbachs a are reported in the diagonal. Past behaviour was measured through a single item. Standard deviations are reported in brackets.

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Fig. 2. Structural equation model with standardized path coefcients predicting intention to recycle household waste. Note: N 153. Observed indicators are aggregate of items. ATT attitude; SN subjective norms; PBC perceived behavioural control; NEGEM negative anticipated emotions; DES desire; INT intention; PB past behaviour; Freq frequency of past behaviour. Parameters with an asterisk are signicant at the .05 level or better.

7. General discussion and concluding remarks The studies presented in this paper tested the idea that anticipated emotions and past behaviour can be signicant psychological drivers of individual desire and intentions to perform pro-environmental actions. This idea was based on different considerations. A general basis was offered by recent developments in the eld of social neuroscience. Various authors in this domain have in fact increasingly pointed on the central role of emotions in the regulation of human cognition (e.g., Damasio, 1998a; LeDoux, 1995). Some authors have also suggested how the integrated mechanisms of emotion and cognition have a specic relevance for understanding human concern for the environment (Damasio, 1998b). Similar arguments were put forward by scholars in the environmental psychological domain (e.g., Vining & Ebreo, 2002). Furthermore, research in social psychology has consistently shown how past behaviour could be a robust predictor of future actions and behavioural intentions (e.g., Oullette, & Wood, 1998). Following this line of reasoning, a model encompassing simultaneously emotions and past behaviour in the prediction of human deliberate action was taken as a major frame: the model of goaldirected behaviour (Perugini & Bagozzi, 2001). On the overall, a convergent support for our predictions (and for the plausibility of the MGB in the ecological

Table 5 Overview of results across Studies 1 (use of public transportation) and 2 (recycling) Predictors of desire to engage in pro-environmental behaviour Standardized regression coefcients Study 1 Using public transportation Negative anticipated emotions Past behaviour Variance explained in behavioural intentions .15 .47 62% Study 2 Recycling

.23 .41 82%

domain) emerged across the two sequential studies presented in this paper, as resumed in Table 5. The results of Studies 1 and 2 showed that the MGB makes a good job in explaining intentions to perform the two ecological behaviours considered. As a further aspect, a higher proportion of variance in pro-environmental behavioural intentions was accounted for in Study 2, where a more robust statistical technique was employed. Indeed, the two studies revealed that the anticipation of future emotional states might be a key factor in orienting individuals intention to engage in pro-environmental

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action. In particular, it appears as negative anticipated emotions may affect individuals desire to use public transportation to go to work (Study 1) and to engage in household recycling (Study 2). The relation between negative anticipated emotions and desire appears stronger compared to the relation between attitudes and desire. With regard to this issue, it might be important to recall that in general, the attitudeintention (and attitudebehaviour) link is becoming increasingly complex, especially in the ecological domain. Recent studies have shown, for example, how ecological attitudes can be ambivalent (e.g., Carrus, Passafaro, & Bonnes, 2004; Costarelli & Colloca, 2004). Ambivalence, in turn, might result in weakened attitude-intention links (Costarelli & Colloca, 2004). It is plausible that the null attitudedesire relationships recorded across studies 1 and 2 could be due to this phenomenon. To cope with this problem, future studies could adopt more appropriate measures of pro-environmental attitudes (e.g., separately measuring the positive and negative aspects of attitudes; see Carrus et al., 2004). A different strategy would be to introduce more informative attitudinal predictors of ecological performance. For example, the inclusion of purely affective measures of attitudes has been suggested in the past as a tool for increasing the predictive power of this construct (Triandis, 1980). The efcacy of this inclusion has also received empirical support in the case of an environmentally relevant behaviour such as car use by college students (e.g., Bamberg & Schmidt, 2003). As our ndings reveal, this aspect deserves better consideration in future research on ecological behaviour. Our results are also clearly pointing on the role of past behaviour in the prediction of ecological behaviour. In both studies, frequency of past behaviour resulted as the best predictor of desire and intentions. This nding is line with the results of previous research. As various authors remarked, past behaviour could be a good predictor of future behaviour when the situational conditions in which a behaviour is performed do not change (see Bamberg, Ajzen, & Schmidt, 2003; Ouellette & Wood, 1998). A positive relationship between past behaviour and intentions may indicate either the instauration of an individual habit, or a recurrent individual response cued by unchanged external conditions. A third aspect deserving discussion here concerns the role of desireand the distinction between desires and intentionsin the performance of pro-environmental behaviour. From our ndings, desire emerged as a signicant predictor of intentions both to use public transportation and to recycle. What are the implications of such a nding for the domain of environmentally relevant behaviours? Following Perugini and Bagozzi (2004, p. 69) one might argue that individuals often make a distinction between desiring and intending to do something, or between desiring a goal and intending to achieve it. In the ecological domain this could mean that while many individuals probably really desire to protect the

environment (e.g., through the recycling of household wastes), not all of them actually develop the intention to do so. On the opposite side, many individuals develop an intention to do things they do not really desire to. An example in the ecological domain could be the development of the intention to use public transportation instead of the car, even if this is not what one really desires (a person may intend to use public transportation because s/he does not own a private car, or because somebody else in the family is using her/his car). A point raising from our ndings concerns the apparently differential impact of perceived behavioural control upon desire, emerged across Studies 1 and 2. No effects of perceived control upon desire were in fact detected in the case of recycling. Indeed, this nding is not completely novel. Several investigators have found that different conservation behaviours are not necessarily driven by the same precursors (see Vining & Ebreo, 2002, for a review). In our case, desiring to recycle appears as less linked to considerations about its feasibility (or controllability). One might speculate that individuals desire to recycle because they want to contribute to environmental conservation, without considering whether such an action is or not under their control. On the contrary, many individuals probably do not perceive the use of public transportation instead of the car as a contribution to environmental conservation. As a consequence, developing a desire in this behavioural domain is probably more linked to judgements about its actual feasibility. As a related aspect, it should be noted how various studies pointed on the role of scripts (or similar mental structures) in orienting individual choice of transportation mode (Bamberg & Schmidt, 2003; Fuji & Ga rling, 2003; Verplanken, Aarts, & Van Knippenberg, 1997). Some limits of the present studies should also be acknowledged. On the one hand, the entirely correlational design used does not allow drawing conclusions about the causal relations among the variables. As a related aspect, in our work all the constructs are assessed in the same questionnaire, so that answers could have been inuenced by considerations about consistency. Another limit is the focus only on the prediction of behavioural intentions. Although intentions are one of the most easily measurable proxies of human behaviour, still they are not behaviours (Ajzen, 2000). Another set of limits is related to some of the measures employed in our studies. For example, studies that used a more specic wording for the attitude measure reported higher attitude-intention correlations (e.g., Bamberg & Schmidt, 2003). Likewise, the measure of emotions could also be improved. In fact, some basic emotions that could have been good predictors were not considered in our studies (e.g., shame, disgust). Finally, the measure of past behaviour might not have been completely adequate. A more accurate (although more expensive) measure that could be used in future studies, would be a diary where participants record all the targeted behaviours over a precise period of time. At a more general level, it must be

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60 G. Carrus et al. / Journal of Environmental Psychology 28 (2008) 5162

acknowledged how some aspects of the MGB probably deserve further investigation. One is the distinction between desires and intentions. An alternative way for conceptualizing this distinction is to change the concept of intention to the concept of implementation intention (see Bamberg, 2000). A second issue is the distinction between attitudes and emotions. Indeed, attitudes and emotions have a functional relationship. Consider, as an example, the ndings of Bamberg and Schmidt (2003). In this study, the most salient believes for explaining attitudes towards the use of public transportation were fast, comfortable, and without stress: if public transportation is crowded, it will get uncomfortable and probably result in bad emotions regarding its usage among the public. Therefore, more sophisticated designs and measures are probably needed to better enlighten the role of emotional regulation within expectancy-value models of attitudebehaviour relations (e.g., focusing on salient believes or conducting longitudinal studies). Another aspect deserving further theoretical clarication is the role of past behaviour. Past behaviour could in fact be interpreted also as a measure of social desirability, or in longitudinal studies as a kind of self commitment. Indeed, assessing the role of past behaviour seem to be particularly important in the context of habits that are very automatic. Hence, a replication of the present ndings is probably needed, using experimental or longitudinal research designs, using more accurate measures, and considering actual behaviour as dependent variable. The present ndings may also have signicant practical implications for the promotion of pro-environmental behaviour. In particular, these implications are linked to the potential impact of anticipated emotions and habits for increasing environmentally responsible behaviour. The negative anticipated emotions associated to a particular pro-environmental behaviour may act as barriers to people pro-environmental performance. Likewise, the possibility of associating positive emotional states to a certain pro-environmental behaviour could be a specic cue for interrupting strongly established habits (e.g., commuting by private car).

As a consequence, decision makers could then try to act not only on peoples beliefs, but also on peoples affects, if they want to promote public engagement in pro-environmental action. Public campaigns could aim at associating either positive emotional experiences to specic proenvironmental actions, or negative emotional experiences to the omitted performance of such actions. Affective appeals for increasing ecological behaviour might act as useful complements to public messages focused more on cognitive contents. To conclude, it is also important to stress the relevance of the present ndings for both environmental and social psychological research. Our studies dealt with the application of a specic social psychological model to the investigation of ecologically relevant behaviours. A call for more theoretically grounded investigations in this eld emerged since the last decade (Bonnes, Lee, & Bonaiuto, 2003; Vining & Ebreo, 2002). As the present studies seem to show, models such as the MGB could constitute useful theoretical frames for the prediction of pro-environmental actions. These, in turn, might constitute a suitable arena for further theoretical renement and for the integration of different theoretical approaches when different behavioural domains are considered.

Acknowledgments The authors are grateful to three anonymous reviewers for their precious comments on an earlier version of this paper. The authors wish to thank Alessandra DAvella, Giuliano Gustinetti, Francesca Macr` and Alessia Muzzonigro for their contribution to the data collection.

Appendix A See Table A1.

Table A1 Correlations between observed indicators used in the SEM, Study 2 (recycling) Indicators 1. ATT1 2. ATT2 3. SN1 4. SN2 5. PBC1 6. PBC2 7. NEGEM1 8. NEGEM2 8. NEGEM3 10. FREQ 11. DES1 12. DES2 13. INT1 14. INT2 Mean scores (and 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

4.5 (0.9) .89 4.7 (0.6) .56 .71 3.2 (1.2) .63 .73 .90 4.0 (0.8) .46 .35 .32 .23 3.4 (1.1) .45 .32 .32 .25 .97 3.4 (1.1) .77 .83 .79 .74 .63 .60 .74 .83 .79 .72 .58 .55 .75 .83 .77 .71 .63 .60 .62 .57 .57 .45 .77 .73 .77 .76 .74 .69 .67 .63 .76 .74 .72 .66 .71 .68 .69 .62 .61 .51 .77 .72 .70 .63 .64 .54 .69 .64 standard deviations) are reported in the diagonal.

3.9 (1.0) .99 .99 .83 .93 .94 .85 .85

3.9 (1.1) .99 .78 .92 .92 .80 .81

4.1 (1.0) .80 .92 .92 .82 .81

2.9 (1.4) .87 .91 .97 .95

3.4 (1.2) .99 3.3 (1.2) .90 .93 3.1 (1.4) .89 .92 .97 3.5 (1.3)

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G. Carrus et al. / Journal of Environmental Psychology 28 (2008) 5162 Table A1 (continued ) Standardized correlations coefcients between latent variables estimated via SEM, Study 2 (recycling) Variables 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 61

1. Desire 2. Intentions .75 3. Attitudes .47 4. Subjective .50 norms 5. Perceived .47 behavioural control 6. Negative .61 anticipated emotions 7. Past behaviour .70

.34 .31 .51

.46 .19 .11

.51

.33

.48

.27

.89

.31

.26

.55

.49

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