Leveraging the link between pro-environmental behaviour and well-being to encourage sustainable lifestyle shifts

Four studies investigated whether awareness of links between pro-environmental behaviour (PEB) and well-being can motivate sustainable lifestyle shifts. We find that most US adults believe most PEBs do not affect well-being. Yet, when people do expect such benefits, they tend to have more positive attitudes and intentions regarding PEBs and enact more PEBs. We also find that messages about how PEB can increase well-being consistently improved attitudes towards PEBs and made people more persuasive in their subsequent efforts to encourage others to live sustainably. These effects were especially pronounced among people who did not previously believe that PEB improves well-being. Effects on PEB intentions were inconsistent, however, and we found no effect on a revealed measure of PEB (i.e., seeking sustainability tips). Overall, these results underscore the importance of beliefs about PEBs’ impact on well-being and suggest that public messaging about that relationship might help motivate sustainable lifestyles.