Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Why aren’t we taking action? Psychological barriers to climate-positive food choices

  • Published:
Climatic Change Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The environmental attitude-behavior gap has been extensively studied, but no research has examined a wide range of barriers to climate change mitigation. Inspired by Gifford’s (2011) seven categories of psychological barriers to climate change mitigation and adaptation, we examined the role of 36 barriers on climate-positive food-choice intentions. Of the 36, 29 were significantly related to weaker intentions. Exploratory factor analysis revealed that the barriers cluster into four factors (Denial, Interpersonal Influences, Conflicting Goals and Aspirations, and Tokenism). Confirmatory factor analysis validated both the four-factor model and the rational seven-factor model proposed earlier. All factors except Interpersonal Influence are related to fewer food-choice intentions, illustrating the value of understanding psychological barriers for pro-environmental intentions.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Aarts H, Dijksterhuis A (2000) The automatic activation of goal-directed behaviour: the case of travel habit. J Environ Psychol 20:75–82. doi:10.1006/jevp.1999.0156

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aquino K, Steisel V, Kay A (1992) The effects of resource distribution, voice, and decision framing on the provision of public goods. J Confl Resolut 36:665–687

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bandura A (2007) Impeding ecological sustainability through selective moral disengagement. Int J Innovation Sustain Dev 2:8–35. doi:10.1504/IJISD.2007.016056

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blake J (1999) Overcoming the value-action gap in environmental policy: tensions between national policy and local experience. Local Environ 4:257–278. doi:10.1080/13549839908725599

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brehm JW (1966) A theory of psychological reactance. Academic, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Byrne BM (1994) Structural equation modeling with EQS and EQS/Windows. Sage, Thousand Oaks

    Google Scholar 

  • Byrne BM (2009) Structural equation modeling with AMOS: basic concepts, applications, and programming, 2nd edn. Taylor & Francis, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Chen A, Gifford R (2015) “I wanted to cooperate, but…”: justifying suboptimal cooperation in a commons dilemma. Can J Behav Sci 47:282–291

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cohen S (2001) States of denial: knowing about atrocities and suffering. Blackwell, Malden

    Google Scholar 

  • Corbett JB (2006) Communicating nature: how we create and understand environmental messages. Island Press, Washington

    Google Scholar 

  • Corraliza JA, Berenguer J (2000) Environmental values, beliefs and actions: a situational approach. Environ Behav 32:832–848

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Croker H, Whitaker KL, Cooke L, Wardle J (2009) Do social norms affect intended food choice? Prev Med 49:190–193. doi:10.1016/j.ypmed.2009.07.006

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Festinger L (1954) A theory of social comparison processes. Hum Relat 7:117–140. doi:10.1177/001872675400700202

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Feygina I, Jost JT, Goldsmith RE (2010) System justification, the denial of global warming, and the possibility of “system-sanctioned change.”. Pers Soc Psychol B 36:326–338. doi:10.1177/0146167209351435

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (2006) Livestock’s long shadow: Environmental issues and options. Rome

  • Gifford R (1976) Environmental numbness in the classroom. J Exp Educ 44:4–7

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gifford R (2008) Psychology’s essential role in climate change. Can Psychol 49:273–280. doi:10.1037/a0013234

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gifford R (2011) The dragons of inaction: psychological barriers that limit climate change mitigation and adaptation. Am Psychol 66:290–302. doi:10.1037/a0023566

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gifford R, Scannell L, Kormos C, Smolova L, Biel A, Boncu S, Uzzell D (2009) Temporal pessimism and spatial optimism in environmental assessments: an 18-nation study. J Environ Psychol 29:1–12. doi:10.1016/j.jenvp.2008.06.001

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Heath Y, Gifford R (2002) Extending the theory of planned behavior: predicting the use of public transportation. J Appl Soc Psychol 32:2154–2189. doi:10.1111/j.1559-1816.2002.tb02068.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Heath Y, Gifford R (2006) Free-market ideology and environmental degradation: the case of belief in global climate change. Environ Behav 38:48–71. doi:10.1177/0013916505277998

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hedenus F, Wirsenius S, Johansson DJA (2014) The importance of reduced meat and dairy consumption for meeting stringent climate change targets. Clim Chang 124:79–91. doi:10.1007/s10584-014-1104-5

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hines JM, Hungerford H, Tomera A (1987) Analysis and synthesis of research on responsible environmental behavior: a meta-analysis. J Environ Edu 18:1–8. doi:10.1080/00958964.1987.9943482

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hu L, Bentler PM (1999) Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Struct Equ Model 6:1–55

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2007) Climate change 2007: the physical science basis. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Jevons WS (1865) On the variation of prices and the value of the currency since 1782. J Stat Soc Lond 28:294–320

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kaiser FG, Gutscher H (2003) The proposition of a general version of the theory of planned behavior: predicting ecological behavior. J Appl Social Psychol 33:586–603. doi:10.1111/j.1559-816.2003.tb01914.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kerr NL (1983) Motivation losses in small groups: a social dilemma analysis. J Pers Soc Psychol 45:819–828. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.45.4.819

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kline RB (1998) Principles and practice of structural equation modeling. Guilford Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Knox RE, Inkster JA (1968) Postdecision dissonance at post time. J Pers Soc Psychol 8:319–323. doi:10.1037/h0025528

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kollmuss A, Agyeman J (2002) Mind the gap: why do people act environmentally and what are the barriers to pro-environmental behavior? Environ Educ Res 8:239–260. doi:10.1080/13504620220145401

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lindenberg S, Steg L (2007) Normative, gain and hedonic goal frames guiding environmental behavior. J Soc Issues 63:117–137. doi:10.1111/j.1540-4560.2007.00499.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lorenzoni I, Nicholson-Cole SA, Whitmarsh L (2007) Barriers perceived to engaging with climate change among the UK public and their policy implications. Global Environ Chang 17:445–459. doi:10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2007.01.004

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McKenzie-Mohr D, Smith W (1999) Fostering sustainable behavior: an introduction to community-based social marketing, 2nd edn. New Society, Canada

    Google Scholar 

  • McKenzie-Mohr D, Nemiroff LS, Beers L, Desmarais S (1995) Determinants of responsible environmental behavior. J Soc Issues 51:139–156. doi:10.1111/j.1540-4560.1995.tb01352.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Messick DM, Allison ST, Samuelson CD (1988) Framing and communication effects on group members responses to environmental and social uncertainty. In: Maital S (ed) Applied behavioural economics vol. II. Wheatsheaf, Brighton

    Google Scholar 

  • O’Connor BP (2000) SPSS and SAS programs for determining the number of components using parallel analysis and Velicer’s MAP test. Behav Res Meth, Instrument Comput 32:396–402. doi:10.3758/BF03200807

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Opotow S, Weiss L (2000) Denial and the process of moral exclusion in environmental conflict. J Soc Issues 56:475–490

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pelletier N, Tyedmers P (2010) Forecasting potential global environmental costs of livestock production 2000-2050. P Natl Acad Sci 107:18371–18374. doi:10.1073/pnas.1004659107

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pickett GM, Kangun N, Grove SJ (1993) Is there a general conserving consumer? a public policy concern. J Publ Policy Market 12:234–243

    Google Scholar 

  • Ramankutty N, Evan A, Monfreda C, Foley J (2008) Farming the planet: geographic distribution of global agricultural lands in the year 2000. Global Biogeochem Cy 22:GB1003. doi:10.1029/2007GB002952

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Samelson W, Zeckhauser R (1988) Status quo bias in decision making. J Risk Uncertain 1:7–59. doi:10.1007/BF00055564

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schiffman LG, Kanuk LL, Das M (2006) Consumer behaviour. Pearson Education, Toronto

    Google Scholar 

  • Schultz PW, Nolan JM, Cialdini RB, Goldstein NJ, Griskevicius V (2007) The constructive, destructive, and reconstructive power of social norms. Psychol Sci 18:429–434. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2007.01917.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Springmann M, Godfray CJ, Rayner M, Scarborough P (2016) Analysis and valuation of the health and climate change cobenefits of dietary change. PNAS 113:4146–4151. doi:10.1073/pnas.1523119113

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Staats H (2003) Understanding proenvironmental attitudes and behavior: an analysis and review of research based on the theory of planned behavior. In: Bonnes M, Lee T, Bonaiuto M (eds) Psychological theories for environmental issues. Antony Rowe, Wiltshire, pp 171–202

    Google Scholar 

  • Stehfest E, Bouwman L, van Vuuren DP, den Elzen MGJ, Eickhout B, Kabat P (2009) Climate benefits of changing diet. Clim Chang 95:83–102. doi:10.1007/s10584-008-9534-6

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stern PC (2000) Toward a coherent theory of environmentally significant behavior. J Soc Issues 56:407–424. doi:10.1111/0022-4537.00175

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stevens JP (2002) Applied multivariate statistics for the social sciences, 4th edn. Erlbaum, Hillsdale

    Google Scholar 

  • Swim (2010) Psychology and global climate change: addressing a multifaceted phenomenon and set of challenges. Report of the American Psychological Association Task Force on the Interface between Psychology and Global Climate Change. American Psychological Association, Washington

    Google Scholar 

  • Terwel BW, Harinck F, Ellemers N, Daamen DDL (2009) How organizational motives and communications affect public trust in organizations: the case of carbon dioxide capture and storage. J Environ Psychol 29:290–299. doi:10.1016/j.jenvp.2008.11.004

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Uzzell DL (2000) The psycho-spatial dimensions of global environmental problems. J Environ Psychol 20:307–318. doi:10.1006/jevp.2000.0175

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vartanian LR, Herman CP, Wansink B (2008) Are we aware of the external factors that influence our food intake? Health Psychol 27:533–538. doi:10.1037/0278-6133.27.5.533

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vermeulen SJ, Campbell BM, Ingram JI (2012) Climate change and food systems. Annual Rev Environ Resour 37:195–222. doi:10.1146/annurev.environ-020411-130608

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We acknowledge the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada for funding.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, V8P 5C2, Canada

    Robert D. Gifford & Angel K. S. Chen

Authors
  1. Robert D. Gifford
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Angel K. S. Chen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Angel K. S. Chen.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Gifford, R.D., Chen, A.K.S. Why aren’t we taking action? Psychological barriers to climate-positive food choices. Climatic Change 140, 165–178 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-016-1830-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-016-1830-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation