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Temporal pessimism and spatial optimism in environmental assessments: An 18-nation study

Gifford, Robert, Scannell, Leila, Kormos, Christine, Smolova, Lidia, Biel, Anders, Boncu, Stefan, Corral, Victor, Güntherf, Hartmut, Hanyu, Kazunori, Hine, Donald, Kaiser, Florian G., Korpela, Kalevi, Lima, Luisa Marie, Mertig, Angela G., Mira, Ricardo Garcia, Moser, Gabriel, Passafaro, Paola, Pinheiro, José Q., Saini, Sunil, Sako, Toshihiko, Sautkina, Elena, Savina, Yannick, Schmuck, Peter, Schultz, Wesley, Sobeck, Karin, Sundblad, Eva-Lotta and Uzzell, David 2009. Temporal pessimism and spatial optimism in environmental assessments: An 18-nation study. Journal of Environmental Psychology 29 (1) , pp. 1-12. 10.1016/j.jenvp.2008.06.001

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Abstract

The personal assessments of the current and expected future state of the environment by 3232 community respondents in 18 nations were investigated at the local, national, and global spatial levels. These assessments were compared to a ranking of each country's environmental quality by an expert panel. Temporal pessimism (“things will get worse”) was found in the assessments at all three spatial levels. Spatial optimism bias (“things are better here than there”) was found in the assessments of current environmental conditions in 15 of 18 countries, but not in the assessments of the future. All countries except one exhibited temporal pessimism, but significant differences between them were common. Evaluations of current environmental conditions also differed by country. Citizens' assessments of current conditions, and the degree of comparative optimism, were strongly correlated with the expert panel's assessments of national environmental quality. Aside from the value of understanding global trends in environmental assessments, the results have important implications for environmental policy and risk management strategies.

Item Type: Article
Date Type: Publication
Status: Published
Schools: Architecture
Subjects: N Fine Arts > NA Architecture
Publisher: Elsevier
ISSN: 0272-4944
Last Modified: 08 May 2019 02:30
URI: https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/78561

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