De psychologie van milieuvriendelijke gedragsverandering: Factoren en interventies

To reduce environmental problems, citizens, companies, and governments need to take action to promote pro-environmental behavior. Interventions promoting pro-environmental behavior are more effective when they target key antecedents of behavior. Knowledge and financial benefits are often less influential than commonly expected, while the impact on the environment and other people are often more influential than generally thought. Such knowledge should be used when designing interventions. Nothing is so practical as theory (Lewin, 1943-1944), therefore interventions need to be systematically developed based on theory. That way, interventions are more likely to actually change behavior. Furthermore, interventions need to be evaluated in order to learn from them and to improve their effectiveness. Psychologists are particularly well trained to develop such interventions. Therefore, psychologists need to apply their knowledge more to contribute to reducing environmental problems.