Cooperative phenotype predicts climate change belief and pro-environmental behaviour.

ABSTRACT: Understanding the psychological causes of variation in climate change belief and pro-environmental behaviour remains an urgent challenge for the social sciences. The "cooperative phenotype" is a stable psychological preference for cooperating in social dilemmas that involve a tension between individual and collective interest. Since climate change poses a social dilemma on a global scale, this issue may evoke similar psychological processes as smaller social dilemmas. Here, we investigate the relationships between the cooperative phenotype and climate change belief and behaviour with a representative sample of New Zealanders (N = 897). By linking behaviour in a suite of economic games to self-reported climate attitudes, we show robust positive associations between the cooperative phenotype

SUBMITTER: Claessens S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9325867 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature