Phd in PHD PROGRAM IN BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE

Thesis title: Implicit and explicit socio-cognitive predictors of pro-environmental behaviors: from Climate Change Anxiety to embodied environmental cognition

The thesis explores the psychological and cognitive underpinnings of pro-environmental behaviors (PEBs) with a focus on climate change anxiety (CCA) and embodied environmental cognition. The first study examines the role of CCA in shaping emotional responses and behavioral intentions toward climate change, revealing that CCA specifically predicts climate change-related fear, whereas general anxiety does not. It also finds that messages emphasizing the consequences of climate change are more effective in increasing fear and motivating intentions to act, with eco-anger emerging as the strongest predictor of climate action. The second study refines the General Ecological Behavior (GEB) scale by demonstrating that the inclusion of pro-social items introduces multidimensionality, leading to the development of a shorter, more reliable version. This revised scale shows improved psychometric properties and slightly better predictive validity for CCA, but also highlights the inherently multidimensional nature of pro-environmental behaviors. The third study explores implicit temporal dynamics in pro-environmental decision-making, showing that decisions benefiting the environment are characterized by increased cognitive effort and are more accurate than personal reward choices. It also finds that the functional impairment dimension of climate anxiety predicts motor hesitation in sustainable choices, providing evidence of climate change helplessness within the embodied decision-making framework. Taken together, these findings shed new light in describing the attitude-behavior gap, highlighting the complexity of translating environmental concern into action. Moreover, they support the idea that implicit features of behavior may help overcome the limitations of traditional overt behavioral models, offering a more comprehensive understanding of the mechanisms driving pro-environmental actions.