Research On The Relationships Among Anthropomorphism Of Nature,Empathy With Nature And Pro-environmental Behavior

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationships among anthropomorphism of nature,empathy with nature and pro-environmental behaviors by introducing two new psychological variables(anthropomorphism of nature and empathy with nature),and meanwhile explore the effective methods of promoting the pro-environmental behaviors.The study is divided into two parts.In the first research,we revised Natural Anthropomorphism Questionnaire and Dispositional Empathy with Nature Scale.Then,we used the Natural Anthropomorphism Questionnaire,Dispositional Empathy with Nature Scale and Self Reported Pro-environmental Behavior Scale to examine the effects of anthropomorphism and empathy with nature on pro-environmental behaviors and constructed the mediation model.A sample of 528 university students were recruited to participate in the study.The results are as follows:(1)The revised Natural Anthropomorphism Questionnaire and Dispositional Empathy with Nature Scale meet the demands of psychometrics.Natural Anthropomorphism Questionnaire consists of two dimensions:nature entity and animals entity,and Dispositional Empathy with Nature Scale has one dimension.(2)Anthropomorphism of nature was positively correlated with empathy with nature,in the meanwhile,anthropomorphism of nature and empathy with nature were all positively correlated with pro-environmental behavior as well.(3)The level of anthropomorphism in animal agent dimension is higher than that of in the natural agent dimension.(4)The pro-environmental behavior of participants kept a higher level.Specifically,the level of private behaviors is higher than that of public behaviors and the level of female participants'pro-environmental behavior was significantly higher than that of male.(5)The level of empathy with nature had a significant difference in gender and place.The level of female participants' empathy with nature was significantly higher than that of male participants.Rural participants' empathy with nature was higher than urban participants.(6)Anthropomorphism of nature not only could influence the pro-environment behavior(public behaviors and private behaviors)directly,but also had an indirect effect through empathy with nature.Empathy with nature partially mediated the influence of anthropomorphism of nature on pro-environmental behavior(public behaviors and private behaviors).In the second research,we recruited 64 participants which were randomly divided into four groups.The participants in different groups were presented different instructions and experimental materials.The data of empathy arousal level,public behaviors and private behaviors were obtained.The mediation model was also constructed.The results are as follows:(1)The empathy arousal levels were significantly different in the four groups.(2)Public pro-environmental behaviors were significantly different in the four groups,and private pro-environmental behaviors did not show the difference in the four groups.(3)There was not significant correlations between explicit public pro-environmental behaviors and implicit private pro-environmental behaviors.(4)There were significant correlations among anthropomorphism of nature,empathy with nature and public pro-environmental behaviors.(5)Anthropomorphism of nature not only could influence the public pro-environment behavior directly,but also had an indirect effect through empathy with nature.Empathy with nature partially mediated the influence of anthropomorphism of nature on public pro-environmental behavior.It suggests that we should attach great importance to the variables affecting people's environmental behavior and guide people to protect our environment consciously.