The Tree Task: An incentivized, one-shot decision task to study pro-environmental behavior

IF 6.1 1区心理学 Q1 ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES

Journal of Environmental Psychology Pub Date : 2025-01-26 DOI:10.1016/j.jenvp.2025.102540

Andrea Essl, David Hauser, Manuel Suter, Frauke von Bieberstein

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

To better study pro-environmental behavior, behavioral researchers need a rich set of tasks that allows them to study different forms of pro-environmental behavior. Here we present the Tree Task, an incentivized, one-shot task used to study pro-environmental behavior in the form of tree planting. In the Tree Task, individuals face a trade-off between individual immediate financial rewards and long-term environmental gains. Participants decide between spending money to plant trees or keeping the money for themselves. In a pre-registered validation study, we found that participants’ decisions in the Tree Task depend on the price and environmental impact of a tree. As expected, a higher price leads to fewer planted trees, whereas higher carbon dioxide offsets foster tree planting. The number of trees planted correlates with established self-reports assessing environmental attitude and intention, belief in climate change, and values in line with pro-environmental behavior. The Tree Task extends the set of validated tasks examining incentivized pro-environmental behavior as a short, vivid, and easy-to-explain task.

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来源期刊

Journal of Environmental Psychology Multiple-

CiteScore

10.60

自引率

8.70%

发文量

140

审稿时长

62 days

期刊介绍： The Journal of Environmental Psychology is the premier journal in the field, serving individuals in a wide range of disciplines who have an interest in the scientific study of the transactions and interrelationships between people and their surroundings (including built, social, natural and virtual environments, the use and abuse of nature and natural resources, and sustainability-related behavior). The journal publishes internationally contributed empirical studies and reviews of research on these topics that advance new insights. As an important forum for the field, the journal publishes some of the most influential papers in the discipline that reflect the scientific development of environmental psychology. Contributions on theoretical, methodological, and practical aspects of all human-environment interactions are welcome, along with innovative or interdisciplinary approaches that have a psychological emphasis. Research areas include: •Psychological and behavioral aspects of people and nature •Cognitive mapping, spatial cognition and wayfinding •Ecological consequences of human actions •Theories of place, place attachment, and place identity •Environmental risks and hazards: perception, behavior, and management •Perception and evaluation of buildings and natural landscapes •Effects of physical and natural settings on human cognition and health •Theories of proenvironmental behavior, norms, attitudes, and personality •Psychology of sustainability and climate change •Psychological aspects of resource management and crises •Social use of space: crowding, privacy, territoriality, personal space •Design of, and experiences related to, the physical aspects of workplaces, schools, residences, public buildings and public space