From Education to Action: Facilitating Pro-Environmental Behaviour Change Through Virtual Reality and Mindfulness
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Green, Heather J
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Pepping, Christopher A
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Abstract
This era critically marked by climate challenges is particularly acute in Australia. With Australia's wide range of extreme weather events and often inadequate climate policies, the need for transformative pro-environmental behaviour change is paramount. Despite Australians' increasing concerns about climate change and its impact on their future, a significant gap remains in shifting from awareness to adopting consistent environmentally sustainable behaviours. This highlights that mere concern is not enough to spur such changes, emphasising the key role of other psychological drivers and barriers. In this project, a longitudinal, dual intervention with a fully-crossed design, intended to promote pro-environmental behaviour change in participants residing on the Gold Coast, Australia, was created, refined, and evaluated. First, two psychometric studies were conducted to assess and refine measures for subsequence studies. Then, a virtual environment was developed, and pilot tested twice, which depicted local and temporally imminent climate change impacts. This was administered either via desktop or virtual reality (VR), and targeted four specific behaviours: meat consumption, food waste, plastic use, and paper use. The aim of the video was to influence risk perception, response efficacy, knowledge, ascription of personal responsibility, geographical and temporal distancing, affect, and intentions to reduce for the four aforementioned behaviours. [...]
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Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
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Doctor of Philosophy
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School of Applied Psychology
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The author owns the copyright in this thesis, unless stated otherwise.
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Subject
climate change
virtual reality
behaviour change
mindfulness