Explaining the Paradox: How Pro-Environmental Behaviour can both Thwart and Foster Well-Being

By Leonie A. Venhoeven, J. Bolderdijk, L. Steg. 2013

191 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Although pro-environmental behaviour is often believed to be difficult, aggravating, and potentially threatening one’s quality of life, recent studies suggest that people who behave in a more pro-environmental way are actually more satisfied with their lives. In this manuscript, we aim to explain this apparent paradox by reviewing theoretical arguments and empirical evidence for both sides of the coin: why would acting pro-environmentally decrease one’s well-being, and why would it increase one’s well-being? We conclude that part of the answer lies in a different view on what well-being entails, and more specifically, whether the focus is on hedonic well-being ( i.e ., feeling pleasure) or eudaimonic well-being ( i.e. , feeling meaningful).

Subfields: Applied Psychology, Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law, Social Psychology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/c9a16a26a366a0b5a12dfba00edc9d74709b5f28

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In Applied Psychology

In Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law

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Citations in the corpus

The relationship between nature connectedness and happiness: a meta-analysis (2014, background): “A review of how pro-environmental behaviors can influence well-being in both positive and negatives ways by Venhoeven et al. (2013) hints that it might as research “suggests that engaging in pro-environmental behavior may have especially negative consequences for hedonic well-being, but mainly…”
Examining links from civic engagement to daily well-being from a self-determination theory perspective (2019, background): “Pro-environmental behaviors are theorized to enhance well-being (Kasser, 2009; Venhoeven et al., 2013), and crosssectional evidence revealed a positive correlation between pro-environmental behaviors and happiness, life satisfaction, and positive affect (Brown & Kasser, 2005).”
Values, Norms, and Intrinsic Motivation to Act Proenvironmentally (2016, background): “This implies that people can be intrinsically motivated to engage in proenvironmental actions, because they derive pleasure from doing the right thing and by benefiting the environment (14, 45, 49).”
The Way Forward in Mindfulness and Sustainability: a Critical Review and Research Agenda (2020, background): “Brown and Kasser’s (2005) work feds into the growing understanding that, contrary to popular beliefs, ecological behaviours can promote well-being rather than deteriorating it (Venhoeven et al. 2013).”