90
both personal experiences and the observation of others’ behaviour can lead to
beliefs that are not necessarily reflective of objective reality, and while these beliefs
can be useful in a practical sense and seem to predictably lead to desirable outcomes,
this does not imply that the beliefs themselves are factual. For example, one might
have a subjective belief that bottled water is healthier than tap water, and their belief
would be reinforced with positive experiences of drinking bottled water. The subjective component of beliefs is further emphasised in the case of informational
beliefs, since these beliefs are formed without any direct observation of outcomes of
actions and thus have the most degrees of freedom where information that is not
factual can be transmitted and internalised.
The subjective nature of beliefs has tremendous implications for Education for
Environmental Citizenship (ENEC 2018). First of all, education that aims at creating Environmental Citizens needs to address all three channels of belief formation;
thus, individuals need to be exposed not only to information but need to experience
the outcomes of their actions first-hand and see similar experiences in others. This
calls for a systematic and integrated approach that presents congruent information
through all available channels: educating Environmental Citizens requires not only
education but also infrastructural, societal and political changes, all of which should
be factual and based on a common framework of transmitting information that promotes the components of Environmental Citizenship.
It is not only crucial that existing efforts of promoting Environmental Citizenship
be factual and congruent among various channels of information, but it is also especially important to counteract the belief formation that is not based on facts which
can mislead individuals into acting against the principles of Environmental
Citizenship. Thus, when addressing beliefs, we not only need to form them, we also
need to dismantle existing incorrect beliefs and we need to accomplish this not
through coercive means, but through gentle nudges, factual information, direct
experiences and activities that show that pro-environmental actions are demonstrably beneficial and desirable.
6.3.1 Predicting and Explaining Environmental Citizenship
Through Beliefs
Beliefs are at the core of two predictive models that are largely used to predict and
explain actions relevant to Environmental Citizenship. These models are the ValuesBelief- Norm (VBN) model (Stern 2000; Stern et al. 1999) and the Theory of
Planned Behavior (TPB) (Fishbein and Ajzen 2011; Ajzen 1991). Both of these
models are useful in pro-environmental behaviour research; however, the VBN
model was created as a specific model for predicting and explaining proenvironmental actions, while the TPB is a general model for predicting and explaining behaviours.
A. Balundė et al.
both personal experiences and the observation of others’ behaviour can lead to
beliefs that are not necessarily reflective of objective reality, and while these beliefs
can be useful in a practical sense and seem to predictably lead to desirable outcomes,
this does not imply that the beliefs themselves are factual. For example, one might
have a subjective belief that bottled water is healthier than tap water, and their belief
would be reinforced with positive experiences of drinking bottled water. The subjective component of beliefs is further emphasised in the case of informational
beliefs, since these beliefs are formed without any direct observation of outcomes of
actions and thus have the most degrees of freedom where information that is not
factual can be transmitted and internalised.
The subjective nature of beliefs has tremendous implications for Education for
Environmental Citizenship (ENEC 2018). First of all, education that aims at creating Environmental Citizens needs to address all three channels of belief formation;
thus, individuals need to be exposed not only to information but need to experience
the outcomes of their actions first-hand and see similar experiences in others. This
calls for a systematic and integrated approach that presents congruent information
through all available channels: educating Environmental Citizens requires not only
education but also infrastructural, societal and political changes, all of which should
be factual and based on a common framework of transmitting information that promotes the components of Environmental Citizenship.
It is not only crucial that existing efforts of promoting Environmental Citizenship
be factual and congruent among various channels of information, but it is also especially important to counteract the belief formation that is not based on facts which
can mislead individuals into acting against the principles of Environmental
Citizenship. Thus, when addressing beliefs, we not only need to form them, we also
need to dismantle existing incorrect beliefs and we need to accomplish this not
through coercive means, but through gentle nudges, factual information, direct
experiences and activities that show that pro-environmental actions are demonstrably beneficial and desirable.
6.3.1 Predicting and Explaining Environmental Citizenship
Through Beliefs
Beliefs are at the core of two predictive models that are largely used to predict and
explain actions relevant to Environmental Citizenship. These models are the ValuesBelief- Norm (VBN) model (Stern 2000; Stern et al. 1999) and the Theory of
Planned Behavior (TPB) (Fishbein and Ajzen 2011; Ajzen 1991). Both of these
models are useful in pro-environmental behaviour research; however, the VBN
model was created as a specific model for predicting and explaining proenvironmental actions, while the TPB is a general model for predicting and explaining behaviours.
A. Balundė et al.