Page 90 - Sustainability Communication Interdisciplinary Perspectives and Theoritical Foundations

6 Psychological Aspects of Sustainability Communication 73

is primarily used in the sense of providing one-way information, such as leaflets,
professional literature, lectures, radio and television broadcasts. On the other hand,
however, there are constant complaints about the ‘gap between knowledge and
action’. Without being able to give a full account of these seemingly contradictory
arguments (Diekmann and Preisendörfer 1992; de Haan and Kuckartz 1996; Kruse
2002), one can conclude that behaviour relevant to the environment and sustain-
ability is influenced by a number of determinants that could be seen as either behav-
ioural barriers hindering sustainable behaviour or as support for non-sustainable
behaviour.
Since the 1970s a large body of research has been undertaken in the field of envi-
ronmental awareness and action (e.g. Gardner and Stern 2002; Gifford 2007a;
Schmuck and Schultz 2002) in order to understand the problems of sustainability
learning. In the following the focus will be on ‘environmentally relevant’ or ‘pro-
environmental’ learning. It should be noted however that there is still a need for
more painstaking research into sustainable development, especially in view of its
spatio-temporal, and global aspects, of its relationship to intergenerational justice
and responsibilities as well as of the need for promoting sustainable behaviour
patterns (for an overview, see APA 2010).

Multiple Determinants of Environmentally Relevant
and Sustainable Behaviour

In response to an increasing interest in the everyday psychological problem of
‘environmental awareness’ or ‘environmental concern’, psychology has treated
‘environmental awareness’ as a scientific concept, in addition to examining other
determinants of pro-environmental or conservation behaviour. Several explanatory
models have been developed and empirically tested. The focus is on finding
intervention strategies and instruments to modify non-sustainable behaviours
and to promote more sustainable behaviour patterns. It is important to carefully
evaluate these instruments as to their effectiveness and efficiency in various
contexts of action.
Knowledge alone is not a guarantee for pro-environmental behaviour, especially
abstract knowledge about environmental problems, which lacks an action orientation
and is almost invariably based on survey questionnaires or public opinion polls.
Knowledge, however, is one of the necessary factors that has to be taken into account
and more recent research has made attempts to specify knowledge areas in a much more
concrete, i.e. action-specific, manner, and furthermore to differentiate between types of
knowledge, such as systemic knowledge, action knowledge and prognostic or effective
knowledge, all of which will more closely correlate with concrete action. And, of course,
in order to understand how knowledge is acquired, it is important to study aspects of
communication, such as how factual information is actually presented.
There are further factors to be taken into account if pro-environmental and
sustainable behaviour is to be promoted. These factors may be classified as
individual, interpersonal/social and external/structural conditions.