MOTIVATIONS AND BEHAVIORS THAT SUPPORT RECYCLING

1998

Abstract This paper proposes that recycling researchers should pay attention to both attitudes towards recycling and the processes involved in recycling (recyclers' phenomenal experiences and organizing strategies). As predicted by Sansone and colleagues' model of how people induce themselves to engage in necessary but boring tasks, people who had reasons to persist at recycling (that is, who held strong prorecycling attitudes or had a social orientation towards recycling) were more likely to redefine recycling so as to emphasize its pleasures or the sense of satisfaction they gained from contributing to the environment. These people were also more likely to have developed a way of organizi…