Pro-environmental attitudes and behavior: The role of religion and spirituality in secularized Europe, beyond relevant individual differences
(2025) Journal of Environmental Psychology — Vol. 107, p. Article 102799 (2025)
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- The role of religion and spirituality in pro-environmental commitment in secular societies like the European ones is understudied, and it is unclear whether it is unique, beyond relevant individual differences. In Study 1 (342 adults in Belgium), we measured pro-environmental identity and behavior, collective identities, awe, generativity, authenticity, self-enhancement (power/achievement), openness-intellect, political orientation, religiosity, fundamentalism, and spirituality. Uniquely and additively, awe, left-wing orientation, and low religiosity predicted pro-environmental identity; and generativity, openness-intellect, low self-enhancement, and low religiosity—more importantly than for identity—predicted pro-environmental behavior. Fundamentalism predicted low pro-environmental behavior partly through low awe and high self-enhancement; (non-religious) spirituality predicted the opposite partly through high awe, generativity, and openness-intellect. In Study 2, analyses of EVS 2017 data (N = 53.410, 33 countries) showed that atheists are more pro-environmentalist than religionists, but, across religious-cultural zones, spiritual people outperform religionists and nonbelievers in pro-environmental attitudes, an effect existing beyond those of generativity (care for others, performance orientation), global identity, and political orientation. The two studies converge on that in, mostly secularized, European societies, beyond the role of relevant psychological characteristics, religiosity, not only fundamentalism, seems to undermine pro-environmental engagement, whereas spirituality does the opposite as far as it disconnects from traditional religion.
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Saroglou, V., El Marsni, K., & Benaicha, I. (2025). Pro-environmental attitudes and behavior: The role of religion and spirituality in secularized Europe, beyond relevant individual differences. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 107, Article 102799. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2025.102799 (Original work published 2025)