Who Cares about the Environmental Impact of Cars? Those with an Eye toward the Future

• Published in: Environment and behavior Vol. 36; no. 2; pp. 187 - 206
• Main Authors: Joireman, Jeffrey A., Van Lange, Paul A. M., Van Vugt, Mark
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Thousand Oaks SAGE Publications 01.03.2004; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: Automobiles; Automotive engineering; Behavior; Cars; Chlorofluorocarbons; Commuting; Commuting (Travel); Environment; Environmental Attitudes; Environmental behaviour; Environmental impact; Environmental impact assessment; Environmentalism; Future planning; Human behaviour; Motor cars; Orientation; Pollution; Preferences; Public Transportation; Scoring; Social dilemmas; Social values; Society; Temporal logic; USA; Value; social dilemmas; commuting preferences; proenvironmental behavior; social value orientation; consideration of future consequences
• ISSN: 0013-9165; 1552-390X
• DOI: 10.1177/0013916503251476

This study examines preference for commuting towork by car or public transportation (PT) within an expanded social dilemma framework (i.e., one that recognizes the importance of both social and temporal concerns). Commuters completed scales assessing commuting preferences, beliefs regarding the environmental impact of cars, social value orientation (SVO), and the consideration of future consequences (CFC). Preference for PT was higher among commuters who believed that commuting by car harms the environment and among those scoring high in CFC. Most important, a significant two-way interaction revealed that preference for commuting by PT was positively related to beliefs regarding the harmful environmental consequences of commuting by car only among those high in CFC. SVO was unrelated to commuting preferences. In sum, a future orientation may be more important than a prosocial orientation in shaping commuting preferences.