Adaptation to the climate and ecological emergency: motivational factors predict policy support and behavioural engagement

Elia Valentini , Paul H. P. Hanel 

Understanding the determinants of human adaptation to the climate and ecological emergency (CEE) will be essential to any future policy design and implementation. The present study (N = 1951) investigates some of the most relevant psychosocial variables associated with environmental policy support and adaptation to the CEE: descriptive norms, negative affect, perceived self-efficacy and outcome expectancy of adaptive actions, personal values and beliefs, risk perception, and political orientation. More specifically, we investigate how these factors predict support or opposition for a range of real UK environmental policies as well as self-reported behaviours reflecting engagement with the issue. We find that negative affect, outcome expectancy, universalism values, and political orientation are key predictors of environmental policy support and/or proxy behavioural engagement. In addition, we find that negative affect mediates the relationship between benevolence, universalism, political orientation, and the dependent variables, thus highlighting the role of emotional responses in shaping and mediating psychosocial adaptation to the CEE.