Environmental Justice Program, Earth Commons Institute, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, 20057, USA.
Department of Biology and Department of Psychology, Earth Commons Institute, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, 20057, USA.
Ambio. 2024 Sep;53(9):1269-1280. doi: 10.1007/s13280-024-02017-4. Epub 2024 May 25.
Because climate change and the biodiversity crisis are driven by human actions, determining psychological mechanisms underpinning support for environmental action is an urgent priority. Here, we experimentally tested for mechanisms promoting conservation-related motivation and behavior toward a flagship species, wild Tamanend's bottlenose dolphins. Following evidence that empathy increases prosocial motivations and behavior, and that the ability to identify individual humans promotes empathy, we tested whether this relationship applied to the ability to identify individual dolphins. Participants identified dolphins from their dorsal fins at above chance levels, and better individuation correlated with higher empathy for dolphins and higher willingness to pledge environmental behaviors. Pairing a narrative with an image of an injured dolphin leads to higher donations relative to a narrative alone. Our novel finding that the ability to individually identify dolphins relates to empathy and conservation-related behavior suggests pathways for strengthening environmental attitudes and behavior.
由于气候变化和生物多样性危机是人类活动造成的，确定支持环境行动的心理机制是当务之急。在这里，我们通过实验测试了促进与保护相关的动机和行为的机制，这些动机和行为与旗舰物种野生塔马宁德宽吻海豚有关。根据同理心会增加亲社会动机和行为的证据，以及识别个体人类的能力会促进同理心的证据，我们测试了这种关系是否适用于识别个体海豚的能力。参与者能够从它们的背鳍上识别出海豚，而且更好的个体识别能力与对海豚的同理心更高和更愿意承诺环保行为相关。将一个故事与一张受伤海豚的图片配对，相对于只讲故事，会导致更高的捐款。我们的新发现表明，识别海豚个体的能力与同理心和与保护相关的行为有关，这为加强环境态度和行为提供了途径。
