Simons D-L, Bradbury R B, Evans K L
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, School of Biosciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK.
Department of Earth, Ocean and Ecological Sciences, School of Environmental Science, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK.
Conserv Biol. 2025 Apr;39(2):e14373. doi: 10.1111/cobi.14373. Epub 2024 Sep 10.
The effectiveness of strategic psychology-based marketing techniques for increasing public support for conservation is poorly understood. We assessed how such techniques affect support for tropical rainforest restoration with a controlled online experiment with 1166 nationally representative residents of the United Kingdom. We tested whether support increased when adding ecosystem service (ES) framings to typical nongovernmental organizations' (NGOs) biodiversity-focused messages that emphasize benefits to UK residents or people living near the tropical restoration site and a dynamic social norm nudge that emphasized increasing popularity of environmental restoration. We considered how respondents' psychological traits (nature connection, self-efficacy, psychological benefits of supporting charities, awareness of environmental degradation in the Global South, and climate change skepticism) influenced responses. Outcomes included respondents' reported advertisement sufficiency, sympathetic attitudes, behavioral support, and financial support. The study population typically found advertisements sufficient and exhibited sympathetic attitudes and financial, but not behavioral, support. Younger people exhibited greater conservation support than older respondents. Messages framed solely on biodiversity conservation were as effective as those highlighting additional ES benefits received by UK residents and people near the tropical restoration site. This suggests that framing around ESs, rather than nature's intrinsic value, may not strengthen public support for conservation. The dynamic social norm nudge had perverse effects. It reduced perceived social norms and most outcome variables. Alternative dynamic norm nudges warrant testing, but our results support research suggesting dynamic norm nudges can be ineffective when associated with activism, challenging their use by conservation NGOs. Psychological benefits of supporting charities and perceived self-efficacy increased support for advertisements, highlighting the benefits of including impact statements relating respondents' support to specific outcomes. Climate change skepticism decreased support, whereas nature connection and perceived static social norms increased it, highlighting the need to increase nature connection and pro-environmental social norms to elevate public support for conservation.
基于战略心理学的营销技巧在提高公众对保护工作的支持方面的有效性，目前还知之甚少。我们通过一项针对1166名具有全国代表性的英国居民的在线对照实验，评估了这些技巧如何影响对热带雨林恢复的支持。我们测试了在典型的非政府组织（NGO）以生物多样性为重点的信息中加入生态系统服务（ES）框架时，支持率是否会增加。这些信息强调了对英国居民或热带恢复地点附近居民的好处，以及一种动态社会规范推动，即强调环境恢复越来越受欢迎。我们考虑了受访者的心理特征（与自然的联系、自我效能感、支持慈善机构的心理益处、对全球南方环境退化的认识以及对气候变化的怀疑态度）如何影响他们的反应。结果包括受访者报告的广告充足性、同情态度、行为支持和资金支持。研究人群通常认为广告充足，并表现出同情态度和资金支持，但没有行为支持。年轻人比年长的受访者表现出更大的保护支持。仅以生物多样性保护为框架的信息与那些强调英国居民和热带恢复地点附近居民获得的额外生态系统服务益处的信息一样有效。这表明，围绕生态系统服务构建框架，而非自然的内在价值，可能不会增强公众对保护工作的支持。动态社会规范推动产生了适得其反的效果。它降低了感知到的社会规范和大多数结果变量。其他动态规范推动值得测试，但我们的结果支持了相关研究，即当与激进主义相关联时，动态规范推动可能无效，这对保护非政府组织使用它们提出了挑战。支持慈善机构的心理益处和感知到的自我效能感增加了对广告的支持，这凸显了纳入将受访者的支持与具体结果相关联的影响声明的好处。对气候变化的怀疑态度降低了支持率，而与自然的联系和感知到的静态社会规范则增加了支持率，这凸显了需要加强与自然的联系和亲环境社会规范，以提高公众对保护工作的支持。
