Cognition, heuristics, and biases behind environment-related behaviours
Authors: Silvia Riva, Ezekiel Chinyio, Paul Hampton
Journal: The Lancet Planetary Health (2018)

We read with great interest Matthieu Guitton and Julien Poitras' Comment1Guitton MJ Poitras J Acquiring an operative sustainability expertise for health professionals.Lancet Planet Health. 2017; 1: e299-e300Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (4) Google Scholar published in The Lancet Planetary Health, and we would like to reinforce the importance of environmental education for health professionals. Particularly, some health disciplines—such as Psychology, which is often neglected in this field—might have a cardinal role in environmental protection because they can help to support the delicate and long process of changing people's attitudes and behaviours for the protection of the environment they live in. We agree that environmental control has to be taken more seriously by governmental leaders. However, we think that society must be encouraged and inspired to understand environmental changes as well as to act proactively to safeguard the environment.2Weber E Doing the right thing willingly: behavioral decision theory and environmental policy.in: Shafir E The behavioral foundations of policy. Princeton University Press, Princeton2013Google Scholar Evidence suggests that technical and industrial practices as well as governmental policies are inadequate in supporting environmental control. To avoid these inadequacies, practices and policies have to take into consideration people's behaviours. People have to be taught how to infer and react to often confounding technical, governmental, and public information. Psychology is attentive, through its careful scientific research on behaviour, and might assist individuals in processing and responding effectively to the information about inherent multifaceted environmental challenges, such as the safeguard of the environment in which individuals live in.3Krantz DH Peterson N Arora P Milch K Orlove B Individual values and social goals in environmental decision making.in: Kugler T Smith JC Connolly T Son Y-J Decision modeling and behavior in complex and uncertain environments. Springer-Verlag New York, New York2008: 165-198Crossref Google Scholar Yet even with appropriate knowledge about how to protect the environment and a professed intention to do so, many people still do not behave coherently toward environment protection. There is often a substantial difference between peoples' self-reported knowledge, beliefs, thoughts, and intents, as well as their observable behaviour.4Wester J Timpano KR Çek D Lieberman D Fieldstone SC Broad K Psychological and social factors associated with wastewater reuse emotional discomfort.J Environ Psychol. 2015; 42: 16-23Crossref Scopus (67) Google Scholar, 5Baldi PL Iannello P Riva S Antonietti A Cognitive reflection and socially biased decisions.Studia Psychologica. 2013; 55: 265Crossref Scopus (23) Google Scholar Why does this difference exist? By drawing on important insights from psychology, particularly from cognitive psychology, an understanding of the key cognitive processes—such as biases, heuristics, and motivational factors—might help explain why environment-related behaviour is frequently discordant between personal beliefs and people's intentions. The understanding of these psychological mechanisms can help design more cost-effective and successful interventions to encourage more appropriate behaviours among people. This online publication has been corrected. The corrected version first appeared at thelancet.com/planetaryhealth on February 26, 2020. This online publication has been corrected. The corrected version first appeared at thelancet.com/planetaryhealth on February 26, 2020. We acknowledge support from the Psychology in Construction and Smart, Sustainable, safe and healthy cities groups of the University of Wolverhampton. The Comment is based on a project that was funded by the European Commission (Project H2020-MSCA-IF2015/H2020-MSCA-IF-2015, Grant Agreement: 703236—Inhibiting Stress in the Construction Industry [INSTINCT]). The authors are very grateful to the EC for this funding. We declare no other competing interests. Acquiring an operative sustainability expertise for health professionalsThe effects of human activities on planetary ecosystems are nearing a point of no return. It is getting increasingly clear that population-wide behavioural changes will have to be the basis of any solution.1–4 Yet, in order for such changes to occur, a substantial proportion of the population has to be willing to endorse them. Because health professionals are heavily connected with all layers of the population and can have a major impact on societal issues,5–7 they might be able to encourage positive changes. Full-Text PDF Open AccessCorrection to Lancet Planet Health 2018; 2: e11Riva S, Chinyio E, Hampton P. Cognition, heuristics, and biases behind environment-related behaviours. Lancet Planet Health 2018; 2: e11—This Comment has been updated to acknowledge funding by the European Commission. This correction has been made as of Feb 26, 2020. Full-Text PDF Open Access