254
A. A. Melo et al.
In the case of resilience, understood as “the capacity of individuals to deal with
success in face of significative changes, adversity, or risk, this capacity changes along
time and is reinforced by protective factors, in the individual and the environment”
(Stewart et al. 1997, p. 22). This characteristic, as a consequence of the perception
of the difficulty in executing sustainable behavior is extremely important, as it can
cause the individual to continue presenting the behavior even in face of the difficulties
encountered throughout the process.
Griskevicius et al. (2012) understand sustainable behavior from an evolutionary
perspective. In their study, the authors propose that many modern environmentalist
tendencies and social problems are caused or exacerbated by 5 evolutionary tendencies: (1) propensity for genetic self-interest; (2) motivation for relative rather than
absolute status, (3) propensity to unconsciously copy others, (4) a predisposition
to myopia, and (5) propensity to disconsider impalpable concerns. An evolutionary
approach suggests that, just as the forces of natural selection can mold morphological characteristics, such as the shape of our hands, the same forces can also shape
psychological tendencies.
According to this conception, human beings evolved to reap more rewards for
themselves, ultimately triggering the transfer of the inherent onus to others (Hawkes
1992). Natural selection does not care about survival of the species; what matters is
the replication of someone’s genes, which often comes at the expense of the survival
of other genes (Dawkins and Krebs 1978). Although there is a variation in the transfer
of the onus to others depending on the person (Van Lange et al. 1997), individuals
are willing to make selfish choices in the face of social dilemmas, particularly when
interacting with strangers in large groups.
Human beings have also evolved to cooperate with people who cannot return
favors directly. The evolution of this type of aid is usually explained in the light
of reciprocity theories (Nowak and Sigmund 2005). Indirect reciprocity postulates
that organisms can develop the capacity to cooperate with non-reciprocal strangers
because this may help establish a reputation as a good cooperator. Reputation concerns are particularly powerful when people strongly identify with a group and its
members. For example, the strength of people’s community identification predicts
their willingness to help solve social dilemmas (Hardy and Van Vugt 2006), and
this identification presupposes a willingness to punish cheaters and reward desirable
behaviors in other members of the community (Brewer and Kramer 1986).
In addition, human beings have also evolved to copy and instinctively imitate the
behavior of others. Psychologists have long recognized that human beings exhibit
this tendency (Asch 1956), and it is believed that such behavior has brought them
evolutionary benefits. Imitation is an underestimated contributor to environmental
problems because many of these problems result from conflict between what people
believe they should do versus what they actually see others doing (Cialdini et al.
1990). For example, although home residents say that their neghbors’ behavior has
little affect on their conservation behavior, studies show that neighbors’ behavior
is many times the strongest predictor of real energy savings (Nolan et al. 2008). In
fact, the neighbors’ behavior is many times a substantially stronger predictor than
financial incentives (Nolan et al. 2008). When people notice that their neighbors
A. A. Melo et al.
In the case of resilience, understood as “the capacity of individuals to deal with
success in face of significative changes, adversity, or risk, this capacity changes along
time and is reinforced by protective factors, in the individual and the environment”
(Stewart et al. 1997, p. 22). This characteristic, as a consequence of the perception
of the difficulty in executing sustainable behavior is extremely important, as it can
cause the individual to continue presenting the behavior even in face of the difficulties
encountered throughout the process.
Griskevicius et al. (2012) understand sustainable behavior from an evolutionary
perspective. In their study, the authors propose that many modern environmentalist
tendencies and social problems are caused or exacerbated by 5 evolutionary tendencies: (1) propensity for genetic self-interest; (2) motivation for relative rather than
absolute status, (3) propensity to unconsciously copy others, (4) a predisposition
to myopia, and (5) propensity to disconsider impalpable concerns. An evolutionary
approach suggests that, just as the forces of natural selection can mold morphological characteristics, such as the shape of our hands, the same forces can also shape
psychological tendencies.
According to this conception, human beings evolved to reap more rewards for
themselves, ultimately triggering the transfer of the inherent onus to others (Hawkes
1992). Natural selection does not care about survival of the species; what matters is
the replication of someone’s genes, which often comes at the expense of the survival
of other genes (Dawkins and Krebs 1978). Although there is a variation in the transfer
of the onus to others depending on the person (Van Lange et al. 1997), individuals
are willing to make selfish choices in the face of social dilemmas, particularly when
interacting with strangers in large groups.
Human beings have also evolved to cooperate with people who cannot return
favors directly. The evolution of this type of aid is usually explained in the light
of reciprocity theories (Nowak and Sigmund 2005). Indirect reciprocity postulates
that organisms can develop the capacity to cooperate with non-reciprocal strangers
because this may help establish a reputation as a good cooperator. Reputation concerns are particularly powerful when people strongly identify with a group and its
members. For example, the strength of people’s community identification predicts
their willingness to help solve social dilemmas (Hardy and Van Vugt 2006), and
this identification presupposes a willingness to punish cheaters and reward desirable
behaviors in other members of the community (Brewer and Kramer 1986).
In addition, human beings have also evolved to copy and instinctively imitate the
behavior of others. Psychologists have long recognized that human beings exhibit
this tendency (Asch 1956), and it is believed that such behavior has brought them
evolutionary benefits. Imitation is an underestimated contributor to environmental
problems because many of these problems result from conflict between what people
believe they should do versus what they actually see others doing (Cialdini et al.
1990). For example, although home residents say that their neghbors’ behavior has
little affect on their conservation behavior, studies show that neighbors’ behavior
is many times the strongest predictor of real energy savings (Nolan et al. 2008). In
fact, the neighbors’ behavior is many times a substantially stronger predictor than
financial incentives (Nolan et al. 2008). When people notice that their neighbors