Jörgen Garvill

Value Structures behind Proenvironmental Behavior

The purpose of the study was to test a hierarchical model of the effects of general values, environmental values, problem awareness, and personal norms on general proenvironmental behavior. The model starts with the effects of the relatively stable structures of general values and moves toward effects of more specific environmental values, environmental problem awareness, and personal norms. A personal norm was expected to mediate the effects of values and problem awareness on proenvironmental behavior. Survey data from a Swedish sample of 1,400 individuals were used in a path analysis to test the model, which was supported, and the results showed that the personal norm could be seen as derived from self-transcendent and ecocentric values and activated by problem awareness. The personal norm mediated the effects from general values, environmental values, and problem awareness on proenvironmental behavior.

Effects of values, problem awareness, and personal norm on willingness to reduce personal car use

The influence of values, problem awareness, and personal norm on willingness to cooperate were studied. The choice situation was seen as a social dilemma and willingness to reduce personal car use as an intention to cooperate since it requires sacrificing immediate personal gains in order to reduce long-term collective environmental costs. Data were collected through a survey to 2500 car owners in Sweden. The survey assessed, value orientation, problem awareness, personal norm, and willingness to reduce personal car use. A hierarchical model, of the effects of values, awareness, and norms on the willingness to cooperate, was tested with path analysis. Data supported the hypothesized model. Values and problem awareness influenced personal norm, which in turn influenced willingness to reduce personal car use. The results clearly showed the importance of personal norm for willingness to cooperate in a social dilemma.

EFFECTS OF INCREASED AWARENESS ON CHOICE OF TRAVEL MODE

This paper reports a field experiment with the purpose of studying the effects of increased awareness on travel mode choice. One hundred fifteen subjects were randomly assigned to an experimental and a control group. In the experimental group, a more deliberate choice of travel mode was induced and expected to result in a stronger relationship between attitude and behavior, a weaker relationship between habit and behavior, and a behavioral change among individuals with a strong habit. Attitude, habit, and behavior were measured in travel diaries and questionnaires. The results indicated no significant change in the relationship between attitude and behavior and no significant change in the relationship between habit and behavior. However, a temporally extended decrease in car use was observed in the experimental group. The effect was noted for individuals with a strong habit who reduced their car use but not for subjects with a weak habit.

Annoyance and health symptoms and their influencing factors: A population-based air pollution intervention study

OBJECTIVES Interventions for reducing air pollution are important means for improving public health. The role of psychological factors in understanding annoyance and health symptoms due to air pollution is limited and further investigation is required. This study aimed to investigate the effects of an intervention to reduce air pollution (predominantly dust and soot) with respect to perceived pollution, risk perception, annoyance and health symptoms. Another objective was to test a model that describes inter-relations between air pollution, perceived pollution, health risk perception, annoyance and health symptoms. STUDY DESIGN An interventional, population-based questionnaire study. METHODS Surveys were performed before (pre-test) and after (post-test) closure of a sinter plant. Instead, pellets were shipped to the communitys harbour for steel production. Individuals in the community aged 18-75 years were selected at random for participation in the pre-test (n=738; 74% of the sample participated) and post-test (n=684; 68% of the sample participated). The two samples were representative of the populations at the two points in time, and thus not identical. RESULTS After the sinter plant was closed, the environment was perceived as being less dusty, the residents were more positive in their risk perception, and they reported less annoyance due to dust, soot and odorous substances. No difference was found for health symptoms between the pre-test and the post-test. Based on path analyses, a model is proposed of inter-relations between air pollution, perceived pollution, health risk perception, annoyance and health symptoms. CONCLUSION The intervention was successful with respect to perceived dust and soot pollution; to annoyance attributed to dust, soot and odorous substances; and to risk perception. The path analyses suggest that perceived pollution and health risk perception play important roles in understanding and predicting environmentally induced annoyance and health symptoms.

Residential-location preferences across the life span

Abstract The study examined the hypotheses that preferences for residential location are based on housing-attribute evaluations derived from beliefs about value fulfillment, and that changes in these beliefs account for variation of residential-location preferences across the life span. Subjects ( n = 148) belonging to five different life cycle groups were interviewed by telephone. In these interviews three types of information were obtained by means of ratings: (1) Preferences for living at six different distances from city center; (2) Evaluations of the extent to which dwellings at these distances were perceived to possess certain attributes, and; (3) Assessments of the extent to which different values were attained by living at these distances. Sets of regression analyses supported with some qualifications the proposed hypotheses. Specifically, the results showed that life span changes in residential-location preferences depended on how much the preferences were influenced by the value of comfort relative to freedom, well-being, and togetherness.

Chapter 11 Psychological Explanations of Participation in Everyday Activities

Publisher Summary This chapter explains psychological explanations of participation in everyday activities. These activities are presumably primary means by which goals important for adjustment are attained. The chapter discusses the problems in defining and measuring everyday activities. The chapter is devoted to explanations of why people participate in different such activities. Everyday activities are means by which goals are attained. The aim of much empirical research in geography has been to find regularities in spatiotemporal patterns of activities. It is, therefore, understandable that explanations focus on the role of external circumstances. Further, a distinction is made between activities depending on how fixed they are in time and space. Those activities which a person is committed to perform and which are fixed in time and space will tend to act as pegs in the daily scheduling of activity programs. The chapter also highlights the importance for the daily activity schedule of long-term deliberated choices, of where to live and what job to take.

FACTORS INFLUENCING DRIVERS' DECISION TO INSTALL AN ELECTRONIC SPEED CHECKER IN THE CAR

Intelligent speed adaptation (ISA) refers to various concepts aiming at limiting the vehicle speed. In Umea, Sweden, a large scale field study was carried out to test the possibility to, on a volun ...