Raja Urooj S, Carrico Amanda R
School of Communication, Loyola University Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States.
Department of Environmental Studies, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, United States.
Front Psychol. 2023 Jul 18;14:1192018. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1192018. eCollection 2023.
We use the term "environmentalists" to describe the people who are highly and actively engaged and involved in environmental issues like climate change. Environmentalists consistently advocate, research, or volunteer to do the work needed to address environmental challenges. Factors that drive contemporary environmentalists remain understudied.
We, therefore, ask: what formative experiences drive environmentalists on climate change and other environmental problems at present? We frame this exploration through the significant life experiences (SLE) literature, which examines people and environmental pathways. We also ask: how do feelings of perceptual/actual distance or closeness to environmental threats and climate change shape a person's decision to become an environmentalist? We anchor this query to the psychological distance (PD) literature that explores how people perceive external phenomena and the role distance plays in their conception. To answer both questions, we use qualitative methods and draw on 33 interviews with environmentalists involved in environmental protection work for an average of 91 h in the past 4 weeks.
We find that environmentalists spoke about several formative experiences broadly consistent with what has been documented in the SLE literature. Traumatic experiences were especially influential for our sample of environmentalists. Our findings also reveal that PD, especially social, plays a role in the lives of environmentalists.
Study findings could help scholars and practitioners deepen their understanding of contemporary environmentalists. Practitioners, in particular, could use this knowledge to help environmentalists by providing them with tailored resources and support.
我们使用“环保主义者”一词来描述那些高度积极地参与气候变化等环境问题的人。环保主义者不断倡导、研究或自愿从事应对环境挑战所需的工作。驱动当代环保主义者的因素仍未得到充分研究。
因此，我们提出问题：目前是什么形成性经历促使环保主义者关注气候变化和其他环境问题？我们通过重要生活经历（SLE）文献来构建这一探索，该文献研究人与环境的路径。我们还提出问题：对环境威胁和气候变化的感知/实际距离或亲近感如何塑造一个人成为环保主义者的决定？我们将这个问题与心理距离（PD）文献联系起来，该文献探讨人们如何感知外部现象以及距离在他们认知中所起的作用。为了回答这两个问题，我们采用定性方法，并对33位从事环境保护工作的环保主义者进行了访谈，他们在过去4周内平均参与环保工作91小时。
我们发现，环保主义者谈到了一些形成性经历，这些经历与SLE文献中所记载的大致一致。创伤性经历对我们的环保主义者样本尤其具有影响力。我们的研究结果还表明，心理距离，尤其是社会心理距离，在环保主义者的生活中发挥着作用。
研究结果有助于学者和从业者加深对当代环保主义者的理解。特别是从业者，可以利用这些知识为环保主义者提供量身定制的资源和支持，从而帮助他们。
