Empathizing with Nature: The Effects of Perspective Taking on Concern for Environmental Issues

In this article, the author proposes that concern for environmental problems is fundamentally linked to the degree to which people view themselves as part of the natural environment. Two studies are reported that test aspects of this theory. The 1st study describes the structure of people's concern for environmental problems. College students from the US, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, and Spain completed a questionnaire that contained several established measures of environmental attitudes. Results from a confirmatory factor analysis showed a clear 3-factor structure, which the author labeled egoistic, altruistic, and biospheric. A 2nd study (n = 180) examined the effects of a perspective-taking manipulation on egoistic, social-altruistic, and biospheric environmental concerns. Results showed that Ss instructed to take the perspective of an animal being harmed by pollution scored significantly higher in biospheric environmental concerns than Ss instructed to remain objective.