THE ROLE OF EMOTION ON ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGES

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITYUNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY SHELAH MARIE DARAP RECIDE TOPIC TITLE: THE ROLE OF EMOTION ON ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGES: AN ASSESSMENT IN DEVELOPING PRO-ENVIRONM

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THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY

UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY

SHELAH MARIE DARAP RECIDE

TOPIC TITLE:

THE ROLE OF EMOTION ON ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGES:

AN ASSESSMENT IN DEVELOPING PRO-ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIONS

TOWARDS ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY

BACHELOR THESIS

Study Mode : Full-Time Major : Environmental Science in Management Faculty : International Training and Development Center

Thai Nguyen, September 2015

TOPIC TITLE:

BACHELOR THESIS

TOPIC TITLE:

BACHELOR THESIS

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APPROVAL SHEET This thesis entitled: “THE ROLE OF EMOTION ON ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGES: AN ASSESSMENT IN DEVELOPING PRO-ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIONS TOWARDS ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY”, prepared,

presented and submitted by SHELAH MARIE D RECIDE in partial fulfillment of the

requirements in the undergraduate degree in Environmental Science and Management hasbeen examined and hereby recommended for approval and acceptance

Thai Nguyen, September 25, 2015

Supervisor

A/Prof Dr HOANG VAN HUNG

Supervisor

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BIOGRAPHICAL DATA

LAGUNA PHILIPPINES

Nationality: FILIPINO

Date of Birth: SEPTEMBER 23, 1995

Place of Birth: STA CRUZ, LAGUNA PHILIPPINES

PARENTS:

Father: REYNALDO S RECIDE

SIBLINGS:

Brother: JHOVAN REY D RECIDE

EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT:

UNIVERSITY (2012-2016)

Major: Bachelor of Environmental Science in Management

Thai Nguyen University of Agriculture and Forestry, Thai Nguyen City,

Vietnam

(Advanced Education Program from University of California, Davis, USA)

SECONDARY (2008-2012)

Curriculum: Special Agricultural Science

Laguna State Polytechnic University, Siniloan Campus, Siniloan, Laguna

PRIMARY (2002-2008)

Angela Ong Javier Memorial Elementary School, Siniloan, Laguna

ii

LAGUNA PHILIPPINES

PARENTS:

SIBLINGS:

UNIVERSITY (2012-2016)

Vietnam

SECONDARY (2008-2012)

PRIMARY (2002-2008)

ii

LAGUNA PHILIPPINES

PARENTS:

SIBLINGS:

UNIVERSITY (2012-2016)

Vietnam

SECONDARY (2008-2012)

PRIMARY (2002-2008)

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Thai Nguyen University of Agriculture and Forestry

Degree Program Bachelor of Environmental Science and Management

Student Name Shelah Marie D Recide

Student ID DTN1153110279

Thesis Title

The Role of Emotion on Environmental Changes: An Assessment

in Developing Pro-Environmental Actions Towards EnvironmentalSustainability

Supervisor A/Prof Hoang Van Hung, Ph.D

Abstract:

The viability of the planet to sustain life amidst development on both economicand industrial fields must be preserved at all cost However, environmental changesand its risks are currently the most serious concern of all individuals especially theresearchers They argue that the causes of these extreme phenomena are not onlyassociated with scientific issues, but also with the individual’s behavior towards theenvironment Thus, various researches have been taken out to consider the solutionsfor the role of human behavior to develop pro-environmental consciousness Thepositive and negative emotions analysis in this study not only affects their ownexperiences with the environment, but it also tests the possibilities of engaging intoeco-friendly ways Thus, this study investigates the role of emotion in developing pro-environmental behavior in the influence of environmental changes, particularly naturaldisasters Furthermore, results have shown that emotion significantly affects thechanges of the participants’ willingness to be engaged in pro-environmental manners.This explains that emotion in developing environmentally-friendly behavior is acontributing variable as a stepping stone to environmental sustainability Eco-friendlyattitudes are also confirmed important in building behavior intentions and acceptance

of nature, this assessment makes the development of desired outcome possible whengood relationship with the environment is already inhabited Likewise, the studyshowed excellent significant result of the emotion-arousing video manipulation andecological footprint, thus, emotion is a factor in considering the start and development

of one’s sustainable way of living

Keywords: Environmental sustainability; Emotion; Environmental

changes; Climate change; pro-environmental behaviorNumber of Pages: Forty-eight (48) pages

Date of Submission: September, 2015

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DEDICATION

To my parents and brother;

Reynaldo, Leonor & JhovanEspecially to my grandfather;

Alejandro

My greatest motivation through hardships,

I love you and I did it to the best of my abilities while your heart beats linger, for it is

as always as it is:

As if listening to raindrops; as if feeling a distinct tone; as if learning how to crawl

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“You'll have a tale or two to tell of your own when you come back.”

–Gandalf; The Hobbit

This quote played a huge inspiration for me during the timeline of this research.Things sometimes did go mad and I was ready enough and yet, still terrified Fortunately,more people came and very little gone Through the time of hardships on this research, Itake hold of the Lord’s guidance and trust Thus, first and foremost, I express my deepest

and solid gratitude to our Almighty God for providing me the strength and courage as the

time gone by; for taking me away from doubts and indifferences; and most definitely forleading my path to live by His plan

The unconditional love and support of my parents, Reynaldo & Leonora Recide, and

my brother, Jhovan Rey Recide, gave me strength to love in return; to continue what I have

started that lead to the amazingly successful completion of this study

Likewise to the people who never doubted my capabilities to gain success,

especially my research supervisor, A/Prof Dr Hoang Van Hung and my Lao Cai and Thai Nguyen families Thank you for the additional knowledge, worthy

indications, comments and unending guidance

To the Advanced Education Program, Thai Nguyen University of Agriculture and Forestry and the University of California, Davis director and staff for permitting me to

undergo with this research in the first place, for giving welcomingly great opportunitiestowards attaining productive abilities hindering failure

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And of course, Andrés Ceballos y DVICIO [Oye, sé que algún día nos

veremos Pronto.] for overwhelmingly being a part of my huge circle of inspiration.

The good things of my life happened with you all and the best yet to come.Thank you truthfully and whole-heartedly

The Researcher

Shelah Marie D Recide

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF FIGURES 1

LIST OF TABLES 2

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS 3

PART I INTRODUCTION 4 1.1 Research Rationale 4

1.2 Objectives of the Study 7

1.3 Research Questions 7

1.4 Significance of the Study 8

1.5 Hypothesis 8

1.5.1Null hypothesis 9

1.5.2.Alternative hypothesis 9

1.6 Scope and Limitation of the Research 9

1.7 Time and Place of the Study 9

1.8 Assumption of the Study 9

1.9 Definition of Terms 10

PART II LITERATURE REVIEW 11

2.1 Environmental Changes and Natural Disasters 11

2.1.1 Human Vulnerability to Environmental Changes due to Climate Change.13 2.2 Environmental Sustainability and Environmental Changes 14

2.3 Emotion and Natural Disasters 16

2.4 Emotion and Environmental Sustainability 17

PART III METHODS 21

3.2 Research Location 21

3.3 Research Approach 22

3.4 Data Collection 22

PART IV RESULTS 30

4.1 General Quantitative Result 30

4.2 Differences on Current Pro-Environmental Behavior 32

4.4 Environmental Concern 36

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4.5 Behavioral Change Intention/Willingness 39

PART V DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION 43 REFERENCES 46 APPENDIX I

APPENDIX II

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1 Research Approach 22

Figure 2 Research Procedures 24

Figure 3 Mean Effect of Video Treatments to Environmental Behavior 37

Figure 4 Mean scores for the Importance of Environmental Issues 38

Figure 5 Willingness of the Participants for Environmental Sustainable Way of Living 40

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LIST OF TABLES

Table 1 Average PANAS-X scores of both treatments (Pre-Video and Post-Video

Treatments) 30

Table 2 Environmental Attitude and Pro-Environmental Behavior 31

Table 3 Environmental Measures Overall Record 32

Table 4 Correlation and Differences of Environmental attitude, behavior, and ecological footprint 33

Table 5 Grand means of the participants’ emotional score at Pre- & Post-Video and ANCOVA 34

Table 6 Emotion and EID Score One-Way ANOVA 35

Table 7 Emotion and NEP Score One-Way ANOVA 35

Table 8 Emotion and EF Score One-Way ANOVA 36

Table 9 Video Impact to the participants 37

Table 10 Multiple Regression Analysis Significance Test 41

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

ANCOVA Analysis of Covariance

ANOVA Analysis of Variance

CDP Committee for Development Policy (CDP)

DRC Democratic Republic of Congo

EF Ecological Footprint Test

EID Environmental Identity Scale

EMB Environmental Management Bureau (EMB

EVI economic vulnerability index (EVI)

GCMS Global Coherence Monitoring System (GCMS)

IPCC Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

MS Excel Microsoft Excel

NEP New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) Questions

PANAS-X Positive Affect and Negative Affect Scale

PCI Planning Commission of India (PCI)

SPSS Statistical Package for the Social Science

UNEP United Nations Environment Programme

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of dying The global society, on the other hand, is widely affected to the threats thatalready jeopardize the withheld strength of our planet and the worst things are soon tocome (Schreiner, 2012) These environmental issues such as climate change are puttingall sorts of comforts, places and all ways of life to risks of disappearing on a timescale ofyears or a decade (Jamieson, 2014) Natural disasters are the primary issues of globalenvironmental change According to the report from New England Journal of Medicine,natural disasters worldwide have steadily increased affecting millions of people everyyear Climate change in particular is related to this issue The massive contributions ofhuman activities to greenhouse gas emission trigger natural disasters These disasters such

as floods, storms, tropical cyclones, heat waves, droughts and wildfires that threaten lifeinto difficulties, poverty and death are expected to increase, to be frequent and to be moresevere without proper action

Prior to these phenomena raises the concerns from experts, government, marketingmanagers and even the normal people about the issues regarding the environmentalawareness and sustainability Environmental sustainability is defined as “the urgent need

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of using Earth’s resources while taking action of protecting the natural world,emphasizing the preservation of natural environment to sustain human life as well as thebalanced coexistence of all organisms for the future.” (Oskamp, 2000) Although thisdefinition centers the viability of the environment to sustain life, the human ways of usingthe natural resources can cause extreme changes in the environment and drasticconsequences for the future of the Earth Hence, sustainability with less effectivemitigation measures is inflicted with the vulnerability of the whole society No matterhow fast and big the economic growth is, without sustainability measures, the world is indanger of increasing mortality rate due to natural disasters Currently, environmentalsustainability is receiving major attention from the media and all environmental andgovernment organizations Likewise, most research today prioritizes the long termimplications of this issue Environmental sustainability is aiming businesses to lookbeyond the negative impact they have on the environment As a result, manyorganizations turned guilty for engaging in unsustainable practices that threaten theenvironment, though as of today, the increasing list of these organizations and businessesare committed to reduce their damaging practices and adopt positive influences for adeveloping economy along with sustainable environmental growth.

However, scientists argue that the Earth’s vulnerability is not only due tooverpopulation, excessive emission of greenhouse gases, or degraded agricultural andoceanic features, but it could also be triggered by the individual emotion and behavior ofthe global society Environmental problems are exacerbated by human behavior caused bythoughts, beliefs and values Psychology studies and helps understand how human behave

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and interact with the natural environment whether it is positively or negatively (Dietrich,2013) Likewise, the concept of social cognition, which is within the scope of socialpsychology and studied as part of the social environment, may provide frameworks forsolutions considering the role of emotions in behavioral decision-making and the changes

in behaviors to a pro-environmental ways

Social psychological factors, specifically emotion, people’s thoughts and behaviorsare easily influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others (Allport,1985) This concept allows us to plan solutions by applying human emotion and behaviortheories for pro-environmental growth and sustainable environment

Moreover, Oskamp (2000) believes that unless the primary sustainability threats areovercome, Earth will eventually lose its ability to inhabit humans and all forms of life.Thus, psychologists work on efforts to adopt a more sustainable lifestyle with positivemechanisms towards pro-environmental goals to encourage the governments,organizations and corporations to reduce or if possible, prevent environmental damage.The human way of living has alarming impacts towards the environment (Schreiner,2012) It is our duty to be engaged in environmental protection involving personalbehaviors to sustain planet Earth As such, the way human think about environmentaldangers from disasters and extreme phenomena may affect whether or not we behave inenvironmentally-friendly ways (Schreiner, 2012) Thus, human emotion and behaviormay support the sustainability planning efforts that minimize the threats and damages thatbefalls the Earth

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1.2 Objectives of the Study

General Objective:

This study aims to assess the contribution of emotion in developing eco-friendlybehavior towards sustainability through environmental change

Specific Objectives:

The study also aims the following,

 To determine whether the emotion and behavior affect individual’s awareness ofenvironmental changes and sustainability

 To survey individual emotional state, attitude and behaviors towards theenvironment

 To assess what degree to which individual views the environment as part of theiridentity; and their perspectives on the relationship between human and nature

 What emotion motivate people to take action to protect the environment?

 Are the participants willing to change their environmental behavior, knowing thatnatural disasters could mean devastating impacts and death all over the world?

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1.4 Significance of the Study

Climate change is putting all the things with a great deal at the end includinghumanity and creation—driving environmental, technological and social changes rapidly.Given these environmental phenomena we are experiencing today, it is imperative todevise plans and precautionary measures for environmental sustainability Humanactivities contribute to the biggest portion of the threats of nature However, it is believedthat social, psychological factors, including one’s emotion and behavior is the drivingforce Thus, the application of social psychology theories might be a significantdeterminant of pro-environmental actions

The outcome of this research is viewed to bring benefits to the following:

The Author This study will provide opportunities for knowledge transfer from past

studies and researchers to the author, herself

The Readers and Future Researchers This study will serve as a baseline reference

for cognitive researchers It will also open up their minds to explore different areas ofrelated research

The Environment and the Community This study could provide explanations

about the psychological roles for pro-environmental actions It will also encourageeveryone to become allies of the planet engaged in behavior towards sustainability goals

The Country The study will bring huge possibilities of sustainable environmental

growth without jeopardizing the viability of the Earth

1.5 Hypothesis

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1.6 Scope and Limitation of the Research

The scope of this research is the role of emotion and human behavior onenvironmental changes and sustainability It will explore participants at diverse genderand age

However, it is limited on the participants’ focus on the study Since the currentstudy explores the inner thoughts and feelings, the participants’ attention must focus onthe procedure, otherwise, the result of their emotions and behaviors could be misleading

Since the experimental subjects are Vietnamese, communication is limited Thevideos and questionnaires must be translated before distribution

The length of time of the study may be limited due to a series of procedures for atleast 40 participants of different groups

1.7 Time and Place of the Study

This study was conducted in Lao Cai Community College, Lao Cai Province,Vietnam from March 22, 2015 to June 16, 2015

1.8 Assumption of the Study

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Emotion A conscious mental reaction (as anger or fear) subjectively experienced

as strong feeling usually directed toward a specific object and typically accompanied byphysiological and behavioral changes in the body

Environmental Sustainability The urgent need of using Earth’s resources while taking

action of protecting the natural world It emphasizes the preservation of natural environment tosustain human life as well as the balanced coexistence of all organisms in the future

Environmental Changes It is defined as a change or disturbance of the

environment caused by human influences or natural ecological processes (E.g., naturaldisasters, climate change, etc.)

Natural Disaster A natural event such as flood, earthquake, or hurricane that

causes great damage or loss of life

Geological hazards Geological process or phenomenon that may cause loss of

life, injury or other health impacts, property damage, loss of livelihoods and services,social and economic disruption, or environmental damage

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PART II LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter presents the summary of related literature and studies onenvironmental changes, roles of emotion, and environmental sustainability This is toprovide baseline information regarding the study

2.1 Environmental Changes and Natural Disasters

Environmental changes are happening so quickly and harming the Earth tragically.This large-scale, global environmental hazard includes climate change and humanactivities disrupting ecosystems, losing biodiversity, and inviting natural disasters.Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) states that “an increase ofgreenhouse gases in the atmosphere will probably boost temperatures over most landsurfaces” Many possibilities in this statement could acquire different outcomes of thephenomena—it includes higher risk of drought and higher intensity of storms, higherwind speeds of tropical cyclones, and unpredictable changes in monsoon

Amman (2009) discussed at the Global Risk Forum that more disasters will comedue to extreme weather and climate change He stated that the number of natural disastersfrom the past 10 years has increased dramatically On the other hand, Tetzlaff (2009)emphasized that climate change impacts are not equal in all countries Thus, climatechange has to be further studied and monitored, especially when it comes to both rare andparticular destructive events (German Committee on Disaster Prevention (DKKV))

Global warming is another phenomenal environmental change that catchesattention of all inhabitants of the Earth Abrupt temperature and atmospheric changes

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between the poles and the equator could affect the formation of intense storm andhurricanes (Riebeek, 2005) Today, to monitor impacts of global warming, scientistsdevised climatic models for the estimation of sea level rise, greenhouse gas emission andtropical storms They monitor melting of glaciers and ice caps that causes severe, deadlycoastal flooding when associated with strong storm IPCC (2013) stated that globalwarming could cause sea level to increase about 95% of the ocean area by the end of the

21stcentury

The Philippines has suffered great loss of lives and resources from the typhoonHaiyan last November 2013 Nearly 6000 people were killed and 13.26 million wereaffected (Granath, 2014) Environment Assessment showed that most areas affected bystorm surge and flooding correspond to the areas indicated as being at high risk ofgeological hazards Flooding, however, is mainly due to land subsidence lowering theland surface a couple of centimeters every year Environmental Management Bureau(EMB) showed that the Geo-hazard map of Tacloban city was very exposed andvulnerable to danger Furthermore, Tacloban holds a huge density of population that goesthrough urbanization—bigger population requires more housing, infrastructure, facilitiesand risk of vulnerability to typhoons (Ranada, 2013)

The impacts of climate change and global warming produces environmentalchanges everyone has least expected Despite different environmental and governmentalapproach to these phenomena, people’s awareness to the worst possibilities is a necessarybaseline guide for impact reduction measures and a key for preparedness in case ofnatural disasters

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2.1.1 Human Vulnerability to Environmental Changes due to Climate Change

The contribution of human activities to economic development and growth isexpected to hit wide expansion through the twenty-first century and yet, little do peopleknow that with this; environmental changes, natural disasters, biological outbreaks, anddegradation of living resources are unleashed Thus, vulnerability assessments are carriedout all over the world as an important baseline to the planning processes and decision-making for resource allocation UNEP (2003) has proposed a new framework for thisassessment targeting weak channels for environmental degradation such as health,economic loss, poverty, food insecurity, conflicts, and vulnerability to extreme events andnatural disasters

Climate change is anticipated to affect the worldwide agricultural output directly toworld food security In United States of America, the agricultural sector conductedNational Assessment that reported to have met the average productivity, but since mostdeveloping countries are suffering from hard hit of natural disasters, a great possibility offood shortages is likely to occur (Chalecki, 2002) Likewise, vulnerable populations areeasy target for diseases such as malaria, yellow fever, dengue, cholera, measles, Ebolaand pneumonia The district of Ituri in North East of the Democratic Republic of Congo(DRC) is reported worldwide as the most active focus of the human pneumonic plaguewith a total of approximately 1000 cases each year (Gale, 2006) This disease is due topoor environmental condition and large scale of population displacement brought worse

by changing weather conditions Climate change impacts the evolution of pathogens and

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The impacts of climate change are irreversible and the natural disasters cannot bestopped despite preparedness However, through excellent mitigation measures, thevulnerability of one community is decreased while the resiliency is strong.

2.2 Environmental Sustainability and Environmental Changes

Severe natural disaster events trigger substantial threats to environmentalsustainability, development and poverty-reduction initiatives Decision-makers nowadaysimplemented numerous disaster reduction policies and mitigation measures for a resilientsociety against natural hazards while ensuring the low-point vulnerability of development

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efforts Hence, disaster reduction planning and movements become an important factorfor a sustainable environmental development.

Disaster recovery operations do not always consider environmental sustainability,that is, the risk of severe impacts of natural hazards is greatly maximized Abrahams(2014) conducted a case study of the recovery of Haiti from an earthquake in 2010 Hecreated disaster barriers grouped into two categories—priority and perceptions within thedisaster response incorporating environmental sustainability; and barriers for the structureand organizations within the disaster response framework However, the study resultedthat incorporating environmental sustainability in disaster recovery was not constantlyhappening in the area and dependent on the motivation of decision-makers

Likewise, Nicaragua suffered from severe hurricane back in October 1998.Nicaragua is geographically vulnerable to natural disasters that cause them economicbreakdown after the tragedy Despite many international lending institutions forsustainable development, Nicaragua’s viability to hold back the storm wasn’t successful.Thus, different international and local nongovernmental organizations are implementingeconomic and environmental development policies that will reduce its vulnerability tonatural hazards (Lane, 2000)

Environmental sustainability has become a vital element in planning and making process India’s environment suffers from deforestation, soil erosion,desertification, air pollution from industries and vehicle emissions, and water pollutionand yet, it recognizes responsibility for a sustainable environment The PlanningCommission of India (PCI) is developing that the environment, health and development

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2.3 Emotion and Natural Disasters

In a natural disaster situation, it is predominant to see people in their confused,afraid, and most vulnerable state Disastrous events alter the physical environmentdrastically to the point of nothing can be recognized; the place is devastated and deadbodies swarmed everywhere These deaths, injury and the threats of nature signal the newand powerful danger ahead

The American Research Organization, HeartMath, initiated the Global CoherenceMonitoring System (GCMS) Project in order to test if the human emotion affects theEarth and natural disasters or not They installed magnetometer sensors in the US, SaudiArabia, Canada and England, as well as in New Zealand, Brazil and South Africa Thesesensors measure the heart rhythms and brain waves of the planet to find out the energeticactivity around the world McCraty, project coordinator, stated that “There’s alreadyoverwhelming evidence that mass emotionality – when something happens that triggers alot of people feeling similar ways at the same time – that that can affect the global fieldenvironment.” He also claims that sudden changes in human emotion like a shift inconsciousness and awareness, and increased in human stress relate to natural disasters in

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many ways (Crispe, 2012) Apparently, significant findings have resulted in the research.Multistation monitoring systems proved that it could predict natural disasters when itdetected changes in magnetic field weeks before earthquakes and volcanic eruptionhappened at Mount St Helens in Washington, USA Likewise, findings related to thechanges in Earth’s magnetic field prior to the changes in human psychological factors,specifically, brain and nervous system activity have emerged (Global CoherenceInitiative).

Conversely, natural disasters distressfully damage the self-coherence due to fearand other psychological factors Immediate and direct response to the victims helps them

to gear up for fast recovery However, human responses refer to the “overall impact of thedisaster on the personality, life and experience of people caught up in it” (Wraith, &Gordon, 2006) Natural hazards and disasters is a powerful life-changing factor as itparticularly reminds to the people involved the death of their loved ones, utter destructionand poverty Hence, it changes their personality and their behavior towards theenvironment

2.4 Emotion and Environmental Sustainability

Different people have different emotional perspectives to the threats ofenvironmental changes and sustainability Many have studied that emotional reaction andresponse to environmental degradation and natural disasters is a strong starting point indeveloping pro-environmental behavior

Environmental problems are also defined as human behavior problem in manycontexts Koger, (2013) has reviewed that the changes in human behavior are stepping

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stone to achieve the goals of environmental sustainability Likewise, Pearson, (2013)discussed that the study of these thoughts and behaviors contribute greatly inunderstanding and recognizing environmental hazards including the precautionarymeasures to mitigate it “Younger citizens represent an important role in developingsustainability efforts” (Koger, 2013) as they are expected to stand and hold theresponsibilities of becoming leaders to combat with the adverse impacts of environmentalhazards and disasters However, Pearson, (2013) found out that her case study inassessing environmental hazards training in Psychology programs resulted that 95% ofaccredited psychology programs in Australia do not offer this focus of addressingimportant environmental issues to students She argues that greater sustainability issignificantly related to human thoughts and actions to real-world issues of climate change

Environmental degradation triggers a bigger impact on emotional perspectives.(Chawla, 1999) While studies have shown different environmental hazard awareness toproduce pro-environmental responses, Kollmus and Agyeman (2002) came intoconclusion that some of these impacts are most likely aim the negative feelings andemotions of the victims and their negative psychological responses (e.g Distress, anger,fear, sadness) that prevents them to respond to environmental protection activities In theirstudy, the denial or to refuse to accept and believe the reality to environmental changessuch as global warming and other natural disasters; and the feeling that one can hardlymitigate the disaster issues may have been the bull’s eye to emotional reaction It meansthat as the natural disasters struck upon the victim, their sense of perceptiveness may gostraight into denial of utter destruction and apathy for mitigation This behavior refers to

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rational distancing wherein the victims remove their sense and emotion from theenvironmental problems Scheiner, (2012) studied the role of emotion in promoting eco-friendly behavior and sustainability She targeted human emotion to disturbing andcompelling impacts of raising animals for food Like many environmental researches, shedeveloped her ways to study how emotions affect individual perspectives on eco-friendlybehavior Significant changes on human emotion were seen on her results whereinparticipants induced more fear and less enthusiasm However, pro-environmentalbehaviors were seen to be adopted by most participants after becoming aware of thepositive and negative impacts of reducing meat consumption.

On the other hand, Dietrich, (2013) concluded that changes in pro-environmentalbehavior wasn’t influenced by both emotion and awareness yet, her study about the role

of emotion in environmental decision making has confirmed the importance ofenvironmental-friendly attitude in prediction to pro-environmental change in behavior.Furthermore, she discussed those individuals who inhibit environmental-friendly attitudesare easier to be engaged in new behaviors in reducing the ecological footprint whileincreasing the chances of sustainable environmental growth Cognitive studies ofenvironmental changes have brought different paths of researches as it aids theunderstanding of the causes of non-sustainable impacts of behaviors and the barriers toovercome sustainable-triggering behaviors; develops strategies to motivate change andpro-environmental actions; it also provides opportunities to promote bettercommunication between experts, decision-makers and the public towards environmentalissues; it also promotes the idea of extending education to an environment-aware

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curriculum to further contribute to revealing human factors that causes success or failure

of emotional perspectives to environmental changes (Koger, 2013)

The study of the psychological factors of environmental exploitation anddegradation is related to attitudes towards the environment creating pro-environmentalpractices Understanding practices to attain environmental sustainability requires changes

in attitude and behavior towards nature However, Kollmuss & Agyeman, (2010) includedthat even little changes in behavior are difficult to overcome—people tend to getaccustomed to a single behavior, even the new one has the greater advantage of it Thiskind of gap is also discussed in their research If the normative influences such as thecultural traditions dominating your entire lifestyle are far from sustainable measures, thenthe environmentally-friendly actions are less likely to occur causing a wider gap betweenthe attitude and pro-environmental practices For example, people hardly see the dailypractices and environmental degradation, having no correlation, therefore, they tend to dowhat they think is easier Let’s say driving a car and heavy rain, even people who areconcerned with climate change will tend to use the vehicle because their perspectivetowards climate change doesn’t give close correlation of their driving behavior

Furthermore, adopting these pro-environmental behaviors has different internalfactors to be considered, this study tests how emotion can induce and encourage this pro-practices while targeting specific emotions that are likely to benefit environmentalactions

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PART III METHODS

This chapter shows different methods and special techniques used in the study

3.1 3.1 Materials

This study was conducted using the following materials,

 Videos—the videos used were categorized into a high-fear video which presented

disturbing videos of natural disasters and a low-fear video, a compelling story ofthe victims of natural disasters

 Laptop/Computer—this was used in order for the participants to view the

designated High-Fear and Low-Fear videos long with the screen projector

 Questionnaires—in order to measure the different parameters for the study, the

following questionnaires were distributed to both groups of participants:

 Positive Affect and Negative Affect (PANAS-X) Scale Survey

 Environmental Identity (EID) Scale Questionnaires

 New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) Questions; and

 Ecological Footprint Test

 Environmental Concern Assessment and Behavioral ChangeMeasures

3.2 Research Location

This research was conducted at Lao Cai Community College, Lao Cai Province,Vietnam Lao Cai Province experiences minimum impacts of climate change compared toother regions, however, not all the people in the area are aware of the devastating hazards

of environmental changes, especially the students as they continue to live in the modernlife without considering their sustainability growth

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3.3 Research Approach

STATEMENT OF THE

PROBLEM LITERATURE REVIEW

SAMPLING AND STUDY LOCATION

RESULTS AND INTERPRETATION

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

Figure 1 Research Approach

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There were 47 randomly selected participants in the study They were divided intotwo wherein each group is subjected into different treatments Treatment 1 used a high-fear or disturbing video about the devastating impacts of natural disasters while Treatment

2 is about a low-fear or a compelling video story of the victims of a tragic natural disaster

The majority of the participants were girls (girls= 26; boys=21)

The influences of the video treatments on the emotion of the participants and theirenvironmental sustainable behavior were measured through a series of questionnairesregarding environmental concerns and emotional reactions; as well as the changes inattitudes and behaviors towards the environment These measures were analyzed usingdifferent statistical approaches via SPSS and MS Excel

B Research Procedures

Figure 1 shows the procedures and steps used in the study As mentioned above,the participants were randomly selected giving equal chances of being chosen for thestudy They were divided into two treatments and subjected into a series of surveys foremotional behavior and perspectives towards the environment; the relationship of nature

to oneself and the participants’ environmental sustainable behavior

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Figure 2 Research Procedures

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B 1 Measuring emotion before the treatment (Pre-Video Emotion Test)

The emotional state of the participants prior to the beginning of the study isimportant to determine Thus, in order to assess their specific emotional state, they wereasked to rate their emotion using the 5-point scale of PANAS-X wherein number 1=Not atAll or Very slightly and 5= extremely

This survey was applied to both treatment groups There are four distinct stages ofPANAS-X but in this study, the participants completed the General Dimension Scales thatinclude 10 negative emotions and 10 positive emotions based on their current state

Furthermore, descriptive statistics through MS Excel was used in calculating thepre-video PANAS-X data The mean scores of both positive and negative emotion scales,the overall sample mean (x̅) and standard deviations (SD) were calculated for each

participant on both treatments (Watson & Clark, 1999)

B.2 Environmental Identity (EID) Scale

The EID scale test followed the completion of pre-video PANAS-X test.According to Clayton, (2003), this test aims to determine the degree to which anindividual views environment as part of his/her identity Both treatments are subjectedinto this test There are 28 statements which the participants rate using another 5-pointscale from 5=Strongly Disagree to 1=Strongly Agree The range of scores shall be 29 tothe maximum of 140 wherein the higher the score is, the higher the identification of thenatural environment and environmental causes is (Clayton, 2003)

Descriptive statistics and internal reliability analysis using Cronbach’s Alpha viaSPSS was used in order to measure the environmental identification of each participant

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