Leveraging emotion-behavior pathways to support environmental behavior change

Many global environmental threats are driven by human behavior and require behavioral solutions. Researchers in the field have recently explored sciences as core to changing for conservation, yet leveraging emotions remains an underused tool change compared others like social norms. Humans experience a range of that each cause distinct patterns depending on unique contexts evolved over time; this presents opportunity leverage support behavior-change goals. The existing literature models offer minimal guidance about which specific use how those might lead certain behaviors. In specifically, there been mixed recommendations using emotions, resulting from incomplete understanding causal relationship between contexts, We propose adopting functionalist approach, describes functional states designed produce outcomes will help unlock conservation. To demonstrate we identified fear, hope, prospect shame, pride, anger, interest particularly relevant change. Based emotion’s function, developed emotion-behavior pathway described expected outcome emotion particular context. Applying these emotional-behavior pathways can allow both researchers practitioners advance science shifting through emotion.