Phd in SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY AND EDUCATIONAL
RESEARCH

Thesis title: The ontogenesis of committed action for nature: aetiological factors, environmental education, and intergenerational transmission

Extensive research has focused on the antecedents of pro-environmental behaviours, finding various associated variables, such as values, awareness, concern and the feeling of connectedness to nature. Those factors seem traceable to four broader levels of analysis, including the individual's social context, the different sets of experiences in nature, and the presence and availability of natural spaces. In order to have a deeper understanding of the processes that bring people to care and commit to nature, it is necessary to get a complete picture of the environmentalists' stories, considering the timing and the life trajectories. Previous research indicated that childhood is the time when it is crucial to promote ecological values, knowledge and awareness. In this sense, Environmental Education programmes are crucial for boosting sustainable worldviews. Recent studies have also indicated that children following educational programmes inspire parents at home, becoming active socialising agents by using information and insights received through external sources. That is in line with evidence suggesting that socialisation is a lifelong process, and it does not stop in adulthood. However, there is a paucity of research on the transmission pattern of pro-environmental values and behaviours between parents and children, and how this process is carried on still needs to be clarified. In this direction, the current work aims to answer three main questions within three research studies: a) How, within the framework of the predictor variables of environmental action, do they arrange and evolve over an individual's lifetime? b) How does Environmental Education affect students' ecological worldviews and attitudes? and c) How are biospheric values learned and transmitted between parents and children? The first study investigated the developmental trajectory of the factors influencing the willingness to act for nature by analysing four interconnected levels of analysis (i.e., social, pragmatic, contextual and psychological). The second study focuses on the pragmatic dimension by evaluating an Environmental Education programme, and the third study focuses on the social dimension by exploring the bidirectional transmission of biospheric values between parents and children.