How episodic future projections influence pro-environmental attitudes, behaviors, emotions, and psychological distress: A systematic review protocol of experimental studies

Castaigne, Nathalie;Mouguiama-Daouda, Camille;Heeren, Alexandre
(2025) Belgian Association for Psychological Sciences (BAPS) — Location: Bruxelles, ULB (26.May.2025)

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Abstract
In response to the ecological crisis's urgency and severity, how we envision our environmental future – both on an individual and collective level – is a relevant approach to influence our willingness to take pro-environmental action. While current literature often focuses broadly on future-oriented thinking in contrast to present- or past-oriented thinking, we propose to delve deeper by investigating the manner in which the content and characteristics of these future projections (e.g. positive versus negative future scenarios; pragmatic versus utopian narratives) influence climate action. At BAPS, we will present the protocol from an ongoing systematic review that aims to clarify how different types of ecological future projections affect the adoption of pro-environmental attitudes and behaviours. As an additional research question, we also explore how these varying future projections influence emotions. It is widely acknowledged that a considerable proportion of the population experiences significant psychological distress in relation to environmental concerns, and therefore, a secondary focus of our work is to understand how different visions of the future might mitigate or exacerbate this distress. This review is pre-registered and follows PRISMA statements. By undertaking a qualitative analysis of the experimental studies included, we aim to provide a comprehensive overview of the current research landscape in this domain, including recent knowledge and methodologies. The results presented will also suggest promising directions for forthcoming research.
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Castaigne, N., Mouguiama-Daouda, C., & Heeren, A. (2025). How episodic future projections influence pro-environmental attitudes, behaviors, emotions, and psychological distress: A systematic review protocol of experimental studies. Belgian Association for Psychological Sciences (BAPS), Bruxelles, ULB. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/248653