DIMENSIONES PSICOLÓGICAS Y REDUCCIÓN DEL USO DEL AUTO: HACIA UNA DISMINUCIÓN DE LAS EMISIONES

FRANCO, PAUL; PUTRINO NATALIA; JAKOVCEVIC ADRIANA

Taller; Adaptación al Cambio Climático en sectores clave en América del Sur; 2012

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The car, it is a CO2 generator, and this is one of the main reasons of climate change. In 2011 there was a 4.9% increase in the number of cars circulating in the roads that lead to Buenos Aires city, due to a 30% increase in new car sales (INDEC, 2012). This suggests that in our country, CO2 emissions due to car use keep on growing. Reducing car use can be considered a prosocial behavior, as it requires individuals to restrict their egoistic tendencies or make short-term sacrifices (e.g., loss of comfort or independence) to protect collective interests (e.g., non renewable natural resources, clean air). From a psychological perspective, a theory that attempts to explain this kind of behavior, is the Values, Beliefs and Norms theory (VBN; Stern, 2000). This postulates that prosocial behaviors are explained by the interplay between values, personal norms, feelings of responsibility as well as awareness about the consequences that the behavior produces. For example, those who show a greater concern for environmental problems associated to car use, feel more responsible for such problems and feel part of their solution, will experience a greater sense of moral obligation to reduce such behavior. According to this theory, the level of awareness about the problem, would ultimately depend on the value system of the individual. The aim of this study was to evaluate the VBN theory regarding the acceptance and intention to reduce car use by Buenos Aires citizens. Until our knowledge there are no previous studies about the predictive power of this theory in our country. Method Participants. We evaluated 161 people, 71% women, residents of the province of Buenos Aires, the mean age was 29.73 (SD = 9.29). A 50.31% of the sample was university population and 49.69% general population. Participation was anonymous and voluntary. Materials Values. We used the value scale developed by Steg et al. (2012). Respondents were required to indicate to what extent each of 16 values functioned as "a guiding principle in their lives" using a scale ranging from -1 = opposed to my values to 7 = of supreme importance. These values are grouped into four orientations: egoistic (social power, wealth, authority, influence, ambition, α = 0.76), altruistic (equality, a world at peace, social justice, helping others, α = 0.63 ), biospheric (pollution prevention, respect for the earth, oneness with nature and environmental protection, α = 0.88) and hedonistic (self-indulgence, pleasure and enjoyment of life; α = 0.80) . Norm Activation Model. Respondents indicated to what extent they agreed with 19 items reflecting awareness of consequences of problems caused by car use, ascription of responsibility and personal norms to reduce car use, on a scale ranging from 1 ?fully disagree? to 5 ?fully agree?. Based on the items developed by De Groot, Steg & Dicke (2008). Acceptability of the norm intention to reduce car use. Based on the study of De Groot et al. (2008), participants were asked to rate a pricing policy to double the prices associated with the use of the automobile, including: (a) the degree of acceptability of the policy and (b) intention to reduce car use when this policy would be implemented. In both cases we used a Lickert scale of 1 = definitely not to 5 = certainly. Results Through a series of regression analyzes, we found that each variable was able to predict the following variable in the causal chain as proposed by VBN. So, personal norms explained 12% of the acceptance of the policy and 14% of the intention to reduce car use (β = .39 and .34, respectively, p