Giuseppe Carrus

Local identity processes and environmental attitudes in land use changes: The case of natural protected areas☆

The paper concerns pro-environmental attitudes, local identity and place attachment (PA) in the institution of protected natural areas. A theoretical claim is made to frame traditional social psychological research on environmental concern into a “place specific” perspective. Two studies are presented in which pro-environmental attitudes, regional identity (RI) and PA are analysed in two different Italian national parks. In study one (N=115), local residents (people who live inside the park area) and non-local residents (people who live in the same region but outside the park area) were interviewed by questionnaire. The results showed local groups with negative attitudes toward both general and specific natural protected areas and high degrees of RI and PA and non-local groups with the opposite pattern. In study two (N=854), the same differences between locals and non-locals were confirmed in a larger sample; also, various subgroups of local residents who differ in terms of their prevalent economic activities and specific interests were compared. Subjects more involved in local economic activities showed more negative attitudes toward natural protected areas (generally and specifically) and higher degrees of RI and place attachment than subjects more involved in ecological and pro-environmental activities. Both theoretical and policymaking implications of these results are discussed.

Environmental Concern, Regional Identity, and Support for Protected Areas in Italy

Two field studies examined the relations between environmental concern, regional identity, and support for the institution of natural protected areas. Multiple regression (Study 1, N = 316) and structural equation modeling (Study 2, N = 157) were performed to assess the role of general and specific proenvironmental attitudes and regional identity in predicting participants’ support for two new protected areas in Italy. As expected, results show the positive role of general and specific proenvironmental attitudes, as well as the positive role of regional identity, in predicting support for the protected areas considered. Implications of the results for the enhancement of public levels of consensus in the designation and management of natural protected areas are discussed.

Environmental Beliefs and Endorsement of Sustainable Development Principles in Water Conservation: Toward a New Human Interdependence Paradigm Scale

It is thought that a dichotomy exists between two apparently contradictory belief systems: the so-called “Human Exception Paradigm” (HEP)—an anthropocentric belief system—and the “New Environmental Paradigm” (NEP), of ecocentric nature. The aim of this article was to test the presence of an integrative, nondichotomic, New Human Interdependence Paradigm (NHIP) and its influence on water conservation practices. The NHIP envisages interdependence between human progress and nature conservation and conceives it as a dynamic process of integration and incorporation of human needs into natural processes. Seven hundred and fifty-nine individuals living in cities of France, Italy, Mexico, and India responded to items of a purposively developed measuring instrument (the NHIP scale), as well to items of the HEP-NEP scale. They also self-reported the frequency of water conservation actions at their households. The NHIP coherently emerged from its observed indicators and it was a slightly better predictor of water conservation than the HEP-NEP scale.

Distinguishing the sources of normative influence on proenvironmental behaviors The role of local norms in household waste recycling

The aim of this study was to assess whether different kinds of social norms make a distinct contribution and are differently associated to a place-related behavior, such as household waste recycling. The construct of “local norms” is introduced to identify the normative influence that derives from people sharing the same spatial-physical setting. This kind of influence is expected to hold particular relevance when dealing with individual behaviors that have spatially defined collective implications. Participants were 452 residents of various Italian cities, who filled in a questionnaire measuring intentions to recycle, attitudes towards recycling, perceived behavioral control, and 4 kinds of norms stemming from a 2 x 2 combination (i.e., injunctive vs. descriptive, and subjective vs. local norms). Structural equation modelling analyses confirmed the empirical distinction of the 4 kinds of norms, and showed their independent effects on recycling intentions. In particular, descriptive norms (both subjective and local) emerged as powerful predictors of the target proenvironmental behavior, both directly and indirectly through their influence on perceived behavioral control. The implications of the distinction among different kinds of social norms and their relationship with the other dimensions are discussed.

The role of ethnic identity and perceived ethnic norms in the purchase of ethnical food products.

The role of group and individual variables in the purchasing of ethnical food products was tested through an extended theory of planned behavior (TPB) model. A total of 100 Indian female immigrants, living in Rome, Italy, were administered a self-reported questionnaire measuring the classical TPB variables (attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, behavioral intentions and self-reported behaviors) plus 3 additional variables: identification with the Indian ethnic group, perceived norms of the Indian ethnic group, and past behavior. Results confirmed that the new variables introduced are distinct from the original TPB components. As expected, variables at both the individual and group level play a role in predicting purchasing of ethnical foods products. Hierarchical multiple regressions showed that past behavior, ethnical identification, and perceived group norms explain an additional proportion of variance in intentions and self-reported behaviors, independently of attitudes, subjective norms and perceived control. A significant 2-way interaction between ethnical identification and perceived group norms was also detected: as predicted, the highest levels of ethnical food purchasing behavior were reported by high ethnical identifiers with stronger ethnical group norms, while the lowest levels were reported by low ethnical identifiers with weaker ethnical group norms. Theoretical and practical implications of results are discussed.

The Ambivalence of Attitudes Toward Urban Green Areas: Between Proenvironmental Worldviews and Daily Residential Experience

The ambivalence of attitudes toward urban green areas is investigated through a cross-sectional survey carried out in the city of Rome (N = 500). First, the dimensional structure, and then the personal tendency to hold ambivalent attitudes were analyzed in relation to: (a) broader human values and environmental worldviews (such as biospheric value orientations, ecocentrism vs. anthropocentrism) and (b) specific daily residential experience about urban green areas (perceived quality of neighborhood green areas and self-reported frequency of use of green areas). Results show two separate dimensions (moderately correlated) for attitudes toward urban green areas. The two dimensions are interpreted as measuring appreciation and devaluation of the presence of nature in the city, respectively. They showed different patterns of correlations with the other social-psychological factors considered. Moreover, people with more anthropocentric and apathic worldviews and with egoistic values manifested higher degrees of ambivalence in attitudes toward urban green areas, whereas a less straightforward relationship was found with daily residential experience. The implications of these results for the understanding of people’s relationship with urban green areas are discussed.

Relations between naturalness and perceived restorativeness of different urban green spaces

Abstract Green spaces have positive effects on human well-being and quality of life in cities. So far, studies in this field mainly compared preferences for, and outcomes of contact with, natural vs. built environments. Less attention has been given to the study of the psychological effects of contact with green spaces differing in their degree of naturalness. This paper thus aims at understanding the relation between ecological (e.g., level of naturalness) and psychological factors (e.g., perceived restorativeness) in shaping evaluations of different urban and peri-urban green spaces. Five typologies of green space have been identified in the city of Bari (southern Italy), ranging from minimum (i.e., high level of man-made elements) to maximum levels of naturalness (i.e., low level of man-made elements). A set of pictures of the different urban green space typologies was shown to fifty undergraduate students of the University of Bari, and then measures of perceived restorativeness were taken. Results show that perceived restorativeness is the highest in peri-urban green spaces, and increases significantly as a function of the level of naturalness.

Interdisciplinary research for the proposal of the Urban Biosphere Reserve of Rome Municipality

Abstract The issue of urban sustainability is considered within the context of the metropolis of Rome, the capital of Italy. The aim is pursued through an Urban Biosphere Reserve proposal, drawn up by an interdisciplinary group of experts comprising landscape ecologists, geologists, plant ecologists, zoologists, geographers, city planners and environmental psychologists. The potential applicability of this project on an international level is discussed, with particular focus on its importance as (i) one of the first proposals of an Urban Biosphere Reserve encompassing the whole municipality of a large city, (ii) an original approach to urban ecosystem investigations within the framework of landscape ecology principles, and (iii) a good example of cooperation between scientists and local decision-makers to preserve the cultural and landscape identity in an urban and periurban context.

Contact with nature in educational settings might help cognitive functioning and promote positive social behaviour. / El contacto con la naturaleza en los contextos educativos podría mejorar el funcionamiento cognitivo y fomentar el comportamiento social positivo

Abstract This research investigates the positive effects that contact with nature in educational settings has on pre-school children. Several studies have shown that contact with nature promotes many beneficial outcomes. In a study conducted in Italy, we tested the hypotheses that exposure to nature in educational settings promotes psychological restoration, strengthens children’s cognitive and affective resources and increases the quality of children’s social interaction. Children’s performance in structured activities and behaviour in free play were assessed through systematic observation, after time spent in outdoor green versus indoor space, respectively. The participants were 39 children from four different childcare centres in the Rome area. Findings confirm the hypothesized pattern, suggesting that contact with outdoor green spaces positively influences children’s cognitive performance, affective states and social behaviour.

Planned behavior and “local” norms: An analysis of the space-based aspects of normative ecological behavior

Observing the behavior of other people is a fundamental source for the formation of social norms: in fact the behavior of others in the spatial context proximal to the individual might prime and activate voluntary choices. This idea is deeply rooted in various traditions of psychological theory and research, and can be traced back to the early beginning of experimental social psychology. For example, James (1890) proposed the so-called Principle of Ideomotor Action, postulating that simple thinking about a certain action might increase the individual’s tendency to perform it. About one century later, the principle of ideomotor action was assumed as a fundamental mechanism in social cognition research, to explain the priming effects in the automatic activation of social behavior (e.g., Bargh et al. 1996). According to Bargh et al. mental representations and consequent social-behavioral responses might be activated automatically by the mere presence of relevant features in the environment, including the perception of others enacting that behavior. The roots for such an assumption can be found in many domains of psychological research, relating to the concepts of imitation (Koffka 1935; Piaget 1946) and social learning (Bandura 1977), as well as to the process of aggressive behavior following exposure to media communication (e.g., Berkowitz 1984). We argue here that this kind of normative influence has specific spatial roots, which should emerge particularly in the case of those human behaviors having an impact on the quality of our physical environment, and thus having collective implications for the well being of individuals, groups and communities. In fact pro-environmental behaviors have a territorial basis, and are performed in specific places; therefore it is more likely that the ‘‘significant others’’ are represented by those social actors sharing that specific place with the individual (e.g., his/her neighbors). The recycling of household waste is included among these behaviors. The decision on whether separating the household rubbish or not could be influenced more by what our neighbors (compared with our relatives and close friends) do or think about it. Indeed, previous studies showed that descriptive local norms (i.e., individual perceptions of relevant other’s behaviors) are linked to intention to engage in domestic waste recycling (e.g., Carrus et al. 2008). The aim of this paper is to explore the role of social influence stemming from people with whom we share a spatial-physical milieu in everyday life, so as to highlight the role of spatial proximity in the construction of social norms. To this extent, an extended version of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB; Ajzen 1991) is used to predict ICSC 2009, 4th International Conference on Spatial Cognition, Rome, 14–18 September 2009.