Keywords

Proenvironmental behavior; psychological barriers; mitigation; measurement; Theory of Behavioral Choice; Dragons of Inaction Psychological Barrier instrument

7.1 Why aren’t we taking (more) action?

Many people are concerned about climate change, but they often engage in behavior that is detrimental to the environment or fail to engage in behavior necessary to ameliorate or prevent these problems. Much of the work in environmental psychology has focused on individuals’ environmental knowledge, concern, and values, which are notoriously inconsistent, and usually weak correlates with proenvironmental behavior (e.g., Chaiken & Stangor, 1987; Finger, 1994; Vining & Ebreo, 2002). In a classic metaanalysis of 128 studies, the relations between knowledge and attitudes, attitudes and intentions, and intentions and environmentally responsible behavior were weak at the best (Hines, Hungerford, & Tomera, 1987). A more recent metaanalysis found that the overlap between reported and actual behavior is merely 21% (Kormos & Gifford, 2014). Self-reports of behavior are notably inaccurate, but this accounts for only part of the attitude-behavior gap. Several methodological and theoretical explanations for the “attitude-behavior gap” have been offered, including levels of specificity for attitude-behavioral measurement, direct vs vicarious experience with attitude objects (Newhouse, 1990), conflicts among motives (Kollmuss & Agyeman, 2002), and the low-cost/high-cost model (Diekmann & Preisendöerfer, 1992), which propose that even when people care about the environment, they may choose to engage in less effortful behavior, such as recycling, but continue to engage in high-cost behaviors such as driving, whose contributions to climate change outweigh the beneficial impact of recycling.

When obstacles for environmental behavior are considered and statistically controlled, the correlation between attitude and behavior strengthens (e.g., Corraliza & Berenguer, 2000; Kaiser & Gutscher, 2003). Several scholars have investigated perceived barriers to environmental behavioral change. For example, Blake (1999) identified three major barriers: intrapersonal (e.g., attitude and temperament), lack of felt responsibility, and lack of practicability (e.g., perceived shortages of time, money, or information).

In some cases, the bases for inaction are structural, that is, beyond an individual’s reasonable control. For example, having a low income limits one’s ability to purchase solar panels, living in a rural area usually means that public transport does not exist as an option to driving, and living in a region with very cold winters greatly restricts one’s ability to reduce home heating-based energy use. Of course, if local or national governments do not support these structural improvements, they are part of the problem. However, many individuals do have the financial and structural capacity to act, but do not, or do much less than they could. Thus, the question remains: What limits more widespread proenvironmental behavior on the part of individuals, whether those are everyday citizens, Chief executive officer (CEOs), senior government officials, or other important carbon players, for whom such actions are feasible? Fully understanding the perceived, or psychological, barriers requires a more comprehensive perspective—one that recognizes the wide variety of potential constraints that may render proenvironmental values, attitudes, and intentions inert.

Recently, Gifford (2011) introduced a comprehensive list of 30 psychological barriers, called the dragons of inaction, grouped into 7 categories. This chapter describes updated work with the dragons of inaction and is organized as follows: First, it reviews these seven categories of psychological barriers to climate change mitigation and adaptation (limited cognition, ideologies, significant others, sunk costs, discredence, perceived risk, and limited behavior).

Second, it reviews studies that focus on measuring the dragons of inaction, particularly in the context of the main greenhouse gas-heavy behavioral domains, such as household energy use and mitigative food choices.

Third, based on that work, we introduce the Dragons of Inaction Psychological Barriers (DIPBs) instrument, designed for investigating the climate change and sustainable behavior domains.

Finally, we discuss how the barriers can be practically applied to designs of behavior change interventions, provide insights to future research directions, and form a key part of a new theoretical framework called the theory of behavioral choice (TBC).

7.2 Psychological barriers: The dragons of inaction

If so many are concerned about the environment and climate change, why aren’t more citizens more engaged in actions that would help to ameliorate the problems? Of course, many citizens have taken some steps in this direction, and some have taken many steps. Nevertheless, as a whole, humans continue to degrade the environment and produce massive quantities of greenhouse gases. The current levels of atmospheric CO₂ are at a historic high.

In order to begin the process of discovering all of the important psychological barriers, Gifford (2011) assembled a compendium of 30 factors that may serve as obstacles to behavior change for climate change and sustainability. That “intuitive” list stemmed from having to respond to journalists’ reasonable question: “If so many people are in favor of the environment, why is so little being done?” Dragons were dredged from the literature and slowly grew in number from 7 to 10 and more over several years of giving presentations and hearing of valuable new suggestions from audience members. As of the publication of the 2011 paper, they are as follows, as shown in Table 7.1. Several new dragons have been discovered since that could not be included in the present investigations¹, and more may be discovered in the future.

7.3 Developing an instrument for measuring psychological barriers

Psychological barriers might help enhance existing theories of proenvironmental behavior by providing an explanation for the value-action gap or the intention-behavior gap (e.g., TBC discussed further in this chapter). The three studies described in this section are part of a continuous effort to improve understanding of (perceived) barriers and develop a useful structure and psychometrically sound measurement model. These studies have focused on barriers in the major climate-relevant behavior domains, in both student and community populations (e.g., Chen & Gifford, 2015; Gifford & Chen, 2017; Lacroix & Gifford, online). Constructing and validating sound psychological barrier scales also has practical value for designing policy and programs.

Gifford (2011) theorized psychological barriers were measured in approximately the same way in each study. Participants were first presented with a list of proenvironmental behaviors and asked to “pick a behavior that you or others believe should be done to help the environment, but which you are not doing right now, or are not doing enough.” They were then presented with a series of barrier items and asked how much each was true for them on 7-point Likert scales, from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree.”

Barrier scales and items were analyzed after each study [e.g., interitem correlations, reliability indices, principal-component analyses (PCAs)]. Each new study allowed the authors to improve on the barrier measurements, remove less-useful items, and clarify items as needed. Two of these studies are described here, followed by a third that presents a revised barrier measurement model (i.e., the DIPBs instrument; Lacroix, Gifford, & Chen, Submitted).

An example from the food domain. In the first study, 251 Canadians were asked about the psychological barriers they face when making climate-positive food choices (Gifford & Chen, 2017). Climate-positive food-choice intentions were measured using six items (e.g., eat less meat, purchase organic food). Thirty-six barrier items were used to measure the psychological barriers, created to represent Gifford’s (2011) list of dragon species and additional food specific barrier items.

Barrier components were extracted using PCA. Four were retained: Denial, Conflicting Goals and Aspirations, Interpersonal Influences, and Tokenism, which suggests that a four-factor structure is appropriate for the food domain. Of the four, Interpersonal Influences was the only one that was not significantly related to reported food choices. This may have been caused by the relatively weak reliability of the Interpersonal Influences component (α=.66) or perhaps because, although eating is inevitably a social practice, the impact of social influences on food choices is less-often noticed.

Using confirmatory factory analyses, the fit of the four-factor model was compared with that of a seven-factor model, based on the original seven categories described in Gifford (2011), and with a unidimensional model. Both the four-factor and the seven-factor models demonstrated good model fit, although the seven-factor model was slightly better. The authors conclude that both models are equally valuable. The seven-factor model is more comprehensive, but some of its scales had low reliability. The four-factor model was more parsimonious and the scales more reliable.

An example from the energy domain. In a second study, 151 residents of British Columbia were asked about the psychological barriers they face when attempting to adopt household energy-saving behavior (Lacroix & Gifford, online). These behaviors were measured using 11 items (e.g., “I switch off the television and computer when not in use”). Five (i.e., Limited Cognition, Ideologies, Comparisons with Others, Sunk Costs, and Discredence) of the seven theorized (Gifford, 2011) barrier categories were included in this study based on their presumed suitability to the study’s energy objectives. These were measured using multiple items per barrier.

Barrier components were extracted using PCA. Six components were retained: Denial, Conflicting Goals and Aspirations, Interpersonal Influences, Mission Impossible, Technosalvation, and Ignorance (i.e., not knowing how to change). The latter was the only component not significantly correlated with the energy conservation behaviors measured in the study. The energy conservation behaviors included in the study were low-cost ones; perhaps participants knew how to implement these energy conservation behaviors. The Ignorance barrier might apply more to difficult, high-cost behaviors.

Some differences and some similarities emerged between the two studies. The food domain study attempted to measure all seven theorized barrier categories (i.e., from Gifford, 2011). However, it did so using mostly single-item measures for the specific barrier manifestations. The energy domain study attempted to measure only five of seven barrier categories but used multiple-item measures. Both studies measured the barriers in only one behavior domain. Nonetheless, three of the retained barrier components were the same in both studies; Denial, Conflicting Goals and Aspirations, and Interpersonal Influences. Additional components were found, but may have differed because of the different measurement approaches used in each study (e.g., single-item vs multiple-item measures, including only five of the even barrier components). This called for additional analyses using multiple items to measure a comprehensive set of barriers.

A revised barriers scale. The above studies provided the groundwork for a third study designed to address their limitations (Lacroix, Gifford, & Chen, Submitted). The previous two studies were domain specific (food and energy). One objective of this third study (Lacroix, Gifford, & Chen, Submitted) was to provide a comprehensive but parsimonious measurement of psychological barriers to proenvironmental behavior that could be used across multiple domains. The study included proclimate behaviors from six major climate-relevant domains (i.e., food choices, energy use, transportation, waste and disposal, purchasing, and water conservation).

New items were added to supplement the hypothesized barrier factors; the resulting 65-item instrument, intended to cover all the barriers in Gifford’s (2011) taxonomy using multiple items per barrier, was tested in a Canadian community sample (n=380). Exploratory factor analyses were conducted to discover the barrier constructs underlying the set of barrier items. Six factors emerged. To reduce the number of items used to measure each barrier factor, so as to create a relatively short, efficient set of scales, four items were selected to represent each factor, using factor loadings, corrected interitem correlations, and reliabilities (alpha). The items were also chosen to ensure that as many of the specific hypothesized barriers (cf. Table 7.1, above) as possible were retained, while eliminating items that shared considerable variance, in the service of parsimony and the practical usability of the instrument. The six-factor barrier structure was validated using confirmatory factory analyses using a new sample.

7.4 The Dragons of Inaction Psychological Barriers (DIPB) instrument

This revised six-factor instrument, with four items per factor, explained 57% of the variance in psychological barriers. Each barrier factor had good internal reliability (i.e., alphas between .79 and .86). The barrier factors are as follows: No Need to Change, Conflicting Goals and Aspirations, Interpersonal Relations, Government and Industry, Tokenism, and Lacking Knowledge.

Overall, this experimentally derived six-factor instrument is quite similar to the originally theorized seven-factor structure (Fig. 7.1). However, some of the 2011 barrier categories were combined to form a new factor (i.e., Ideologies and Discredence were combined to form the new No Need to Change factor), some were separated from their original group to form their own factor (e.g., perceived program inadequacy now forms the Government and Industry factor), and some barrier categories were eliminated, but their items redistributed elsewhere (i.e., Perceived Risks were redistributed into the Interpersonal Relations, Conflicting Goals and Aspirations, and the Lacking Knowledge factors). Many of the original barrier categories remain practically unchanged except for their names (i.e., Comparison with Others, Sunk Costs, and Limited Behavior). The revised six categories of psychological barriers to proenvironmental behavior are described next.

No Need to Change (AKA Mission Unnecessary). This barrier represents a belief that proenvironmental behavior is not necessary, because a person believes either that there is no environmental problem or that the problem will resolve itself. In the case of climate change, for example, those who are susceptible to this barrier tend to deny that it is occurring or that it is human-caused. If they do accept that the climate is changing, they believe that the problem will resolve itself through technological advancement, suprahuman powers (e.g., a religious deity), or through nature’s resilience. Often, these individuals have a general mistrust of climate scientists and authorities or believe there is no need to act because the environmental risks are geographically or temporally distant.

In terms of the barriers taxonomy initially presented by Gifford (2011), this category encompasses mistrust, denial, reactance, technosalvation, suprahuman control, lack of self-efficacy, system justification, optimism bias, and confirmation bias. A prototypical item is “There is no need for change because I don’t believe that a serious environmental problem exists.”

Conflicting Goals and Aspirations (AKA Mission Contested). Some individuals recognize the need to change but cite financial or time constraints. Generally, they perceive a conflict between their other goals and engaging in proenvironmental behavior (e.g., wanting a bigger or more luxurious car, but also wanting to keep fuel consumption low). They may believe that changing their behavior will negatively impact their lifestyle or well-being and therefore are unwilling to change. Also, they might simply prefer to engage in climate-negative activities that they enjoy. Of the theorized specific barriers presented by Gifford (2011), financial investment, behavioral momentum, temporal and financial perceived risks, and conflicting goals barriers typically fall into this category. A prototypical item is “Making this change would interfere too much with my other goals in life.”

Interpersonal relations (AKA Mission Others). Some people would like to change, but they wait for others to change first or they fear that their family or friends would not approve of the proenvironmental behavior. Within the Gifford (2011) taxonomy, social comparison, social norms, and perceived social risk typically fall into this category. A prototypical item is “Making this change would be criticized by those around me.”

Government and industry (AKA Mission Upstairs). Some individuals would like to change, but they believe that it is not their responsibility to act. They believe that for them to make sacrifices when industry is causing most of environmental problems is unfair. These individuals often believe that the government should take charge and make it easier for them to change by implementing incentives and programs. The perceived program inadequacy barrier (Gifford, 2011) applies to this category. A prototypical item is “It’s the government’s responsibility to regulate this change.”

Tokenism (AKA Mission Accomplished). Generally, this group of barriers applies to individuals who recognize that changes are necessary to address environmental problems. In fact, many of them have already made changes in their own lives. The objective positive impact of these changes might be inconsequential, but once they have adopted one or two proenvironmental actions, they believe that they have done enough. The tokenism and rebound effect barriers (Gifford, 2011) typically fall into this category. A prototypical item is “I’ve already made sacrifices to solve environmental problems, so there is no need for me to do more.”

Lacking Knowledge (AKA Mission Confused). Finally, some individuals would like to change but report that they do not know how. This barrier probably applies to behaviors that are easier to change, although this hypothesis will need to be tested. Of the specific theorized barriers (Gifford, 2011), perceived functional risks, ignorance, and environmental numbness fit into this category. A prototypical item is “I would like to change, but I’m not sure where to begin.”

More research is needed to understand the impact of these dragons. Why? It is partly needed to enhance theory and fundamental knowledge, but also to learn where, in the pursuit of optimal policy and regulations, to most efficiently invest scarce societal resource funds and efforts. Evidence-based, targeted policy is efficient. The next section expands on this theme.

7.5 Practical applications

Identifying psychological barriers to proenvironmental behavior is key to the design of successful behavior change interventions. The DIPB will enable researchers to conduct behavior-specific investigations to establish barrier probabilities for each behavior and for different groups of individuals. Once these psychological barriers have been identified, program designers can begin to “slay the dragons” more efficiently through public campaigns, policies, and programs.

A reasonable starting point is to consider whether all dragons impede all constructive behaviors for all individuals. The very probable short answer is “no.” I (RG) have proposed a three-dimensional “Rubik’s cube” model for this: Dragons x Behaviors x Persons. First, one can safely speculate that different individuals (age, culture, wealth, personality, motivation, etc.) will employ different justifications (dragons) to excuse their actions for different behaviors. Further, the different major behavior domains (domestic energy use, food choices, transportation, and the acquisition and disposal of material goods) probably will elicit different justifications. Bearing this three-dimensional model in mind, some examples of strategies for addressing each of the six experimentally derived psychological barrier factors are described next.

In the context of climate change, the No Need to Change (Mission Unnecessary) barrier factor is often associated with climate change denial or skepticism about its causes. The gateway belief model (van der Linden, Leiserowitz, Feinberg, & Maibach, 2015) suggests one potential avenue for addressing the barrier. According to this model, highlighting the scientific consensus on climate change (i.e., that 97% of climate scientists agree it is happening and human-caused) increases the belief in climate change, which subsequently increases support for climate action (van der Linden et al., 2015; van der Linden, Leiserowitz, & Maibach, 2016; van der Linden, Leiserowitz, Rosenthal, & Maibach, 2017).

The Conflicting Goals and Aspirations (Mission Contested) barrier factor is often associated with a perception that one’s current behavioral habits are too difficult to change (Gifford & Chen, 2017; Lacroix & Gifford, online; Lacroix, Gifford, & Chen, Submitted). To the extent that the conflicting goals are habit-driven, some tools (e.g., implementation intention) are available for changing habits (Danner, Aarts, Papies, & de Vries, 2011; Gardner, Lally, & Wardle, 2012; Gardner, Sheals, Wardle, & McGowan, 2014; Turton, Bruidegom, Cardi, Hirsch, & Treasure, 2016). If time or inconvenience also is a barrier, these efforts could be combined with structural changes for more effective programs (e.g., improving public transportation). For changes that seem too difficult, way of increasing self-efficacy should be explored.

Highlighting the power of social norms can help to address the Interpersonal Relations (Mission Others) barrier factor. For example, informing household residents that they were consuming more electricity than most of their neighbors decreased their energy consumption (Schultz, Nolan, Cialdini, Goldstein, & Griskevicius, 2007). Modeling proper composting behavior increased composting in school cafeterias and public restaurants (Sussman & Gifford, 2013; Sussman, Greeno, Gifford, & Scannell, 2013). Efforts to increase social support may create more effective interventions.

The Tokenism (Mission Accomplished) barrier factor highlights the importance of emphasizing efforts to change high-impact behaviors (Capstick, Lorenzoni, Corner, & Whitmarsh, 2014; Schultz & Kaiser, 2012; Stern, Gardner, Vandenbergh, & Dietz, 2010; Chapter 6: Contributions of psychology to limiting climate change: Opportunities through consumer behavior). In the context of climate change, behaviors like flying less, eating less meat, and driving less or driving a more fuel-efficient car have a relatively higher potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions than others (Lacroix, Gifford, & Chen, Submitted; Wynes & Nicholas, 2017). Research aimed at strengthening proenvironmental intentions toward less-impactful behavior still has its place, especially because it contains potential for these behaviors to spillover onto other behaviors. The Tokenism barrier is more likely to be surmounted (and positive spillover facilitated) when environmental motivation, attitude, and identity are stronger (Lanzini & Thøgersen, 2014; Schultz & Kaiser, 2012; Stern, 2011; Thøgersen & Crompton, 2009).

Positive spillover is also more likely when new skills have been learned. The promotion of self-efficacy (Bandura, 1977) is one potential avenue for addressing the Lacking Knowledge (Mission Confused) barrier factor. Generally, interventions that target self-efficacy should focus on strengthening individuals’ perceptions of the benefits of change, and increasing their performance abilities (Anderson, Winett & Wojcik, 2007; Cherry, 2015; Haverstock & Forgays, 2012; Jancey et al., 2014; Janda & Trocchia, 2001; Lea, Crawford & Worsley, 2006; Menezes et al., 2015).

7.6 Future research directions

Using the DIPB should help to shed light on several questions that remain unanswered. For example, research might compare the perception of psychological barriers across public and private domains. Does the Interpersonal Relations (Mission Others) barrier more strongly hinder behaviors that occur outside one’s home, and are thus more visible (e.g., using public transit), than behavior that takes place in private (e.g., wearing sweaters to conserve household energy)? The perception of psychological barriers might vary between individuals according to their values, worldviews, perceptions of social norms, or their financial situation. These psychological barriers may also be situation-dependent, that is, interact with structural barriers (e.g., the availability of alternative transportation).

Future research also could compare the influence of these barriers between easier and more difficult proenvironmental behaviors. One might hypothesize that a lack of knowledge about how to become a vegan (i.e., Mission Confused) is more common than not knowing how to change a lightbulb. Similarly, expecting the government to regulate a behavior (i.e., Mission Upstairs) might be more applicable for high-cost behaviors.

Once one has overcome some initial barriers, tokenism might hinder further action (Gifford, 2011). This hints at the possibility that at least some barriers are subject to a temporal or causal sequence. As another example of this, the first DIPB barrier, No Need for Change, characterizes individuals who do not see a need for change, whereas the remaining five barrier factors characterize the thinking of individuals who recognize that climate change exists and would like to do more to help, but nevertheless do too little. Future research should unpack the temporal sequence of barriers.

Future research might also investigate the interactions between psychological barriers. For example, does decreasing the perception of one barrier change the perception of other barriers? One might expect that once individuals accept that a given environmental problem exists and considers changing their behavior, they might become more conscious of the social norm surrounding that behavior. In other words, barriers might spill over (either negatively or positively) onto other barriers.

7.7 Incorporating psychological barriers into a new model of behavior choice

One of the most important future challenges for dealing with climate change is to develop a validated theory of human response to these environmental challenges. Understanding that one can fruitfully build on existing work, we are developing a TBC that should improve upon the often-used, but often-criticized, theory of planned behavior (TPB; Ajzen, 2011). Promoting sustainable behavior is not easy, so an optimal model of the phenomenon in question is crucially important.

What influences pro- and anticlimate choices and behaviors? Which are most and least powerful? How do these influences relate to one another? The general reasoned-action approach (Fishbein & Ajzen, 2010) is the latest version of the theoretical ideas of the earlier theory of reasoned action (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975) and TPB (Ajzen, 1985). It offers an integrative framework for the prediction and change of human social behavior. It has stimulated over a thousand empirical studies since 1975.

Essentially, Fishbein and Ajzen (2010) propose that human behavior can best be predicted from a person’s intentions. Intention is the cognitive representation of a person’s readiness to perform a given behavior, and it is considered to be the immediate antecedent of behavior. This intention is said to be determined by three influences: attitude toward the specific behavior, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control.

The approach has been the target of much criticism and debate, and Ajzen (2011) recently replied to many of the reactions and reflections. Most critics accept the theory’s basic reasoned action assumptions but question its sufficiency or inquire into its limiting conditions. The TPB is reasonably good at accounting for behavioral intentions, but a number of critiques have highlighted its shortcomings (e.g., Aarts & Dijksterhuis, 2000; Wegner, 2002).

Based on a review of the TPB’s strengths and weaknesses, and of other research, including our research on barriers, we propose, and are in the midst of testing, a new model called the TBC (see Figure 7.2). The goal for the TBC is to rectify the main shortcomings of the TPB and thereby serve as a superior predictor of behavioral choices. The TBC shares some constructs with the TPB (which, after all, is a reasonable model) but adds four elements: desire to enact (or NOT to enact) a particular behavior, perceived (i.e., psychological) barriers, structural (i.e., objective, external) barriers, and reported behavior.

The work we have discussed above illustrates the importance of perceived barriers. In addition, some people face truly objective, external structural barriers (how can one choose public transit in a town that does not have any? How can one install solar panels as a poor person, or even as a middle-class renter?). Barriers of either sort seem to us to explain why individuals have intentions that are not turned into behaviors. “I would do that, but …” leads directly to one or more perceived or structural barriers.

Reported behavior is included in the TBC because of the clear distinction between actual and reported behavior that was demonstrated in our recent metaanalysis: Across numerous proenvironmental behaviors, the correlation between reported and observed actual behavior was r=.46, representing a 21% overlap (Kormos & Gifford, 2014).

Desire is not clearly part of the TPB, but as one of the authors (RG) discovered from a listener at one of his presentations who asked “What if I just want to fly to Costa Rica?”, this volitional element deserves some discussion. The extended model of goal-directed behavior (EMGB; Perugini & Conner, 2000) was one attempt to gain a better understanding of cognitive and affective decision-making processes. It deliberately extended the TPB and the model of goal-directed behavior (MGB; Perugini & Bagozzi, 2001) by focusing on behavioral volition and linking those volitions to goals. Perugini and Bagozzi (2001) posit that behavioral desire mediates the effects of the TPB antecedents (attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control) on behavioral intention.

An extension of the MGB to the EMGB (its extended version) incorporates two additional elements, goal desire and goal perceived feasibility. However, a recent study (van de Vreede, 2006) concluded that perhaps the EMGB is too unwieldy to be effective. Although it is admirably inclusive, it lacks parsimony. Some of the proposed mediations did not occur. The TBC aims to find a balance between the inclusion of all usefully predictive elements with no superfluous elements.

The knowledge gained during the development and validation of the TBC model can be applied by policymakers and nongovernment organizations to enhance the degree of climate-positive behavior in the community. By demonstrating how each element of the model influences individuals’ intentions to act (or not act) in climate-positive ways, and determining how perceived and objective obstacles interfere with the transition from intention to action, these studies will serve as a guide for creating policies and practices that maximize the frequency of climate-positive behavior choices in the general population.

7.8 Conclusion

This chapter outlines the case for, and development of, a comprehensive and psychometrically sound instrument (the DIPB) for assessing the psychological barriers that hinder individuals from helping to mitigate the impacts of climate change and acting more sustainably. We also offer a new model (the TBC) that incorporates these psychological barriers, structural barriers, desire, and the distinction between actual and reported behavior into a model that should improve upon earlier models of behavior by increasing the range of influences while remaining reasonably parsimonious.

The DIPB and TBC aim to assist in efforts to deal with what is perhaps the most important current and future challenge, climate change. As someone said whose job it was to deal with all the important issues of our time, “There’s one issue that will define the contours of this century more dramatically than any other, and that is the urgent and growing threat of a changing climate” (Barack Obama, UN Climate Change Summit, September 23, 2014).

Given that recent changes to the climate have mainly been caused by the collective behavior choices of 7.2 billion individuals, one obvious way forward is to increase our understanding of climate-related behavioral choices. One way to accomplish this is to create a useful predictive model for understanding those choices. Such a framework, in turn, needs reliable and valid measures. Improved models of human decision-making will serve as a crucial platform for community leaders and members of the community to craft policies that will soften the impact of an already changing climate for the generations to come. We hope that the DIPB and the TBC will be of use for this very important challenge.