Socio-Demographic Determinants of the Better-than-Average Effect in the Context of Pro-Environmental Behavior

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Abstract

The overestimating effect of one's tendency and contribution to pro-environmental practices, and underestimating the pro-environmental behavior of others has been noted recently in cross-country studies. The present work is devoted to a detailed post-hoc analysis of the available empirical data on this effect on the Russian sample (N = 109, Mage = 28.3, SDage = 10.4, 39% men) and identification of the role of socio-demographic variables (gender, age, income, employment, size of city) as its predictors. The analysis showed that the nature of the contribution of the variables under consideration to the respondents' self-estimation and estimation of others with respect to pro-environmental behavior is non-consistent, which is in line with recent studies. On average for all models and statistically significant determinants, the standardized coefficient ???? does not exceed ∓0.25, which formally corresponds to a small effect size. However, given the empirical distribution of effect size typical of social psychology, it is more likely to be medium effects. The prediction power of linear models based on individual socio-demographic characteristics also turns out to be low, the coefficient of determination varies from 0.02 to 0.11. Therefore, it is acceptable to speak about the considered variables as predictors except in relation to resource saving and eco-mobility. The conclusion is made that along with socio-demographic determinants it is necessary to include other predictors in the design of experiments and investigate them more deeply.

General Information

Keywords: pro-environmental behavior, overestimating, the better-than-average effect, tendency, socio-demographic determinants of pro-environmental behavior

Journal rubric: Ecological Psychology

Article type: scientific article

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17759/exppsy.2024170110

Funding. The results were obtained in the framework of the grant of the Russian Federation Government, project № 075-15-2021-611 “Human and the changing Spaces of Ural and Siberia”.

Received: 14.04.2023

Accepted:

For citation: Valko D.V. Socio-Demographic Determinants of the Better-than-Average Effect in the Context of Pro-Environmental Behavior. Eksperimental'naâ psihologiâ = Experimental Psychology (Russia), 2024. Vol. 17, no. 1, pp. 149–160. DOI: 10.17759/exppsy.2024170110. (In Russ., аbstr. in Engl.)

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Information About the Authors

Danila V. Valko, PhD in Economics, Researcher, South-Ural University of Technology, Senior Researcher at the Laboratory of Interdisciplinary Space Research, School of Environmental and Social Studies (Anthroposchool), Tyumen State University, Chelyabinsk, Russia, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8058-7539, e-mail: d.v.valko@gmail.com

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