Hanging in the Balance between Self and Other: Influence of Self-construal on Individual and Collective Pro-Environmental Behaviour

The present paper examines the influence of independent and interdependent self-construals on individual, public, and collective pro-environmental behaviour. It was hypothesized that in order to become meaningfully involved in climate change action, individuals need to be high on both independent and interdependent self-construal, as one influences willingness to break social norms and the other increases concern for others. Independent self-construal is the definition of self as unique, and separate from others, and focused on pursuit of independent goals. The interdependent self-construal is the definition of self as embedded in a social network, with a focus on communal goals. These construals are found to be orthogonal and although individuals typically have a dominant construal, both can be activated by situational cues. In the literature to date, the influence of self-construals on pro-environmental behaviour has been mixed, but some evidence suggests that Americans’ motivations for acting in pro-environmental ways is based on egotistic motives and focuses largely on individual level behaviours. The present study argues for an expanded repertoire of pro-environmental action that includes not only individual behaviours, but also public and collective action. Four-hundred and eighty-five participants completed a questionnaire on Amazon Mechanical Turk about their self-construal and self-reported pro-environmental behaviours (individual, public, and collective). Using a median split, participants were classified into four groups: 1. High independent/High interdependent self-construal, 2. High independent/low interdependent self-construal, 3. Low independent/high interdependent self-construal, and 4. Low on both self-construals. Means of the three types of behaviours (individual, public, and collective) were compared across groups using ANOVA. As hypothesized, participants who were high on both self-construals reported significantly more pro-environmental behaviours, especially in the collective behaviour category. Implications for both how we conceptualize environmental action and the role of self-construals in pro-environmental behaviour are discussed.