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The justification of illegal anti-ecological behavior
Ana María Martín Rodríguez1, Cristina Ruiz Pacheco, Isabel Alonso Rodríguez
1Facultad de Psicología, Universidad de La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain. ammartin@ull.es
Psicothema
|August 6, 2013
Summary
People perceive environmental law breaches as stemming from perpetrator "badness," yet acknowledge situational factors can influence such behavior. Understanding these causal explanations is key to environmental norm development.
Area of Science:
- Environmental Psychology
- Sociology of Law
Background:
- Public perception of environmental law breaches varies.
- Understanding causal explanations for illegal environmental behavior is crucial for social norm development.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze how individuals explain environmental transgressions committed by others.
- To investigate the social support for environmental laws.
Main Methods:
- A questionnaire was administered to 573 participants (aged 17-74) in an environmentally protected area.
- Participants rated punishment severity and provided causal explanations for seven environmental breaches.
Main Results:
- Illegal anti-ecological behavior is generally attributed to perpetrator "badness."
- However, participants also recognized that specific circumstances can lead anyone to commit environmental transgressions.
Conclusions:
- The study's findings on causal explanations are compared with those of actual environmental transgressors.
- This comparison offers insights into the social construction of environmental norms.
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