Positive anticipated affective reactions increase pro-environmental behavior

With households accounting for 75% of global carbon emission, we need to find ways to motivate people to increase their climate change mitigating behaviors. Affective reactions have been linked to pro-environmental behaviors (PEBs), but it is unclear if positive (warm glow or hope) or negative (worry or hopelessness) is more impactful in motivating action. In this pre-registered study we used a unique longitudinal dataset from a Swedish sample to reveal that positive affect predicts more engagement in PEBs, and negative affect predicts less engagement in PEBs. A mediation model also suggests that anticipated (i.e., expected feelings of) positive affect is related to past pro-environmental engagement and could partly predict future PEBs. Hence, affective reactions may be one way to increase intrinsic motivation for a more sustainable lifestyle.