Gómez-Román Cristina, Sabucedo José-Manuel, Alzate Mónica, Medina Beatriz
Department of Social Psychology, Basic and Methodology, CRETUS Institute, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
Department of Social Psychology, Basic and Methodology, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
Front Psychol. 2021 Sep 16;12:647406. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.647406. eCollection 2021.
According to a report by the World Economic Forum, the water crisis is the fourth most serious global risk to society. The apparent limitations of the hydraulic paradigm to solving this crisis are leading to a change in water management approaches. Recently, decentralized wastewater treatment systems have re-emerged as a partial solution to this problem. However, to implement these systems successfully, it is necessary not only to design this technology but also to have social support and willingness among citizens to use it. Previous studies have shown that these technologies are often perceived as being too costly, and people often do not consider the need for adopting them. However, it has also been pointed out that thinking about these technologies as a sustainable endeavor to reduce human impact on the environment can help to overcome the barriers to usage. Thus, we test whether priming environmental concerns before presenting information about decentralized wastewater treatment plants will increase acceptance of those technologies. In this study, we test whether priming environmental concerns can enhance the acceptance of decentralized wastewater treatment plants even when presenting disadvantages of the technology. In order to do so, we designed an experimental study with a sample of 287 people (85.7% women, =20, 28). The experimental design was 2 (priming the environmental concern vs. no priming)×2 (type of information: only advantages vs. advantages and disadvantages). The results showed that those in the environmental concern priming condition had more positive attitudes and behavioral intentions toward decentralized wastewater treatment plants than those in the control condition group. Participants who received only advantages information had a more positive perception toward the decentralized wastewater systems than in the condition, where disadvantages were present, but in the priming condition this difference was not significant. This implies that priming environmental concern helps to overcome the possible disadvantages that act as barriers to acceptance.
根据世界经济论坛的一份报告，水危机是对社会而言第四严重的全球风险。水力范式在解决这一危机方面明显的局限性正导致水管理方法的改变。最近，分散式污水处理系统再度成为解决这一问题的部分方案。然而，要成功实施这些系统，不仅需要设计这项技术，还需要公民的社会支持和使用意愿。先前的研究表明，这些技术常常被认为成本过高，而且人们通常不认为有采用它们的必要。然而，也有人指出，将这些技术视为减少人类对环境影响的可持续努力有助于克服使用障碍。因此，我们测试在介绍分散式污水处理厂的信息之前激发环境关切是否会提高对这些技术的接受度。在本研究中，我们测试即使在介绍该技术的缺点时，激发环境关切是否能增强对分散式污水处理厂的接受度。为了做到这一点，我们设计了一项实验研究，样本为287人（女性占85.7%，年龄范围为20至28岁）。实验设计为2（激发环境关切与未激发）×2（信息类型：仅优点与优点和缺点）。结果表明，与对照组相比，处于激发环境关切条件下的人对分散式污水处理厂有更积极的态度和行为意图。仅收到优点信息的参与者对分散式污水处理系统的看法比存在缺点的情况下更积极，但在激发条件下这种差异不显著。这意味着激发环境关切有助于克服作为接受障碍的可能缺点。
