University of Massachusetts, Amherst, USA.
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA.
Pers Soc Psychol Bull. 2020 Jul;46(7):995-1012. doi: 10.1177/0146167219883610. Epub 2019 Nov 19.
Tackling climate change presents an intergenerational dilemma: People must make sacrifices today, to benefit future generations. What causes people to feel an obligation to benefit future generations? Past research has suggested "intergenerational reciprocity" as a potential driver, but this research is quite domain specific, and it is unknown how well it applies to climate change. We explored a novel means of invoking a sense of intergenerational reciprocity: inducing reflection on the sacrifices made by previous generations. Our studies revealed that such reflection predicts and causes a heightened sense of moral obligation towards future generations, mediated by gratitude. However, there are also some downsides (e.g., feelings of unworthiness), and perceptions of obligation do not substantially affect pro-environmental attitudes or motivations. Thus, while reflecting on past generations' sacrifices can generate a sense of intergenerational obligation, it is limited in the extent to which it can increase pro-environmental concern.
人们今天必须做出牺牲，以使后代受益。那么，是什么促使人们觉得有义务使后代受益呢？过去的研究表明，“代际互惠”是一个潜在的驱动因素，但这项研究非常具体，其适用范围尚不清楚。我们探索了一种唤起代际互惠意识的新方法：促使人们反思上一代人做出的牺牲。我们的研究表明，这种反思预测并导致对后代的道德义务感增强，而感激之情则是其中的中介。然而，这也有一些负面影响（例如，自卑感），而且义务感的认知并不会实质性地影响环保态度或动机。因此，虽然反思过去几代人的牺牲可以产生代际义务感，但它在增加环保关注方面的作用是有限的。
