The Campbell paradigm is a behavioral theory from social psychology. The paradigm was developed by social psychologist Florian G. Kaiser and his colleagues, Katarzyna Byrka and Terry Hartig, in 2010, [1] building on an earlier suggestion by Donald T. Campbell, [2] after whom the paradigm is named. It offers an explanation for why and when individuals engage in particular behaviors. It is mainly (but not exclusive) applied to behaviors that are aimed at fighting climate change and protecting the environment. [1]
The Campbell paradigm suggests that behavior (e.g., switching off lights when leaving a room) is typically the result of two factors: a person's commitment to fighting climate change and protecting the environment (i.e., a person's environmental attitude) and the costs that come with a specific behavior (e.g., having to remember to switch off the lights; see Fig. 1). The paradigm stands in contrast to the widespread rational choice theories, whose prototype is the theory of planned behavior in psychology. Rational choice theories explain behavior through a behavior's expected utility. [3]
The Campbell paradigm is based on the controversial assumption that attitude and behavior are genuinely consistent. Accordingly, behavior arises spontaneously as a manifestation of a person's attitude [4] (quite analogous to the tripartite model of attitude by Rosenberg and Hovland). [5] In contrast to Campbell's deterministic model (in which he aimed to explain engagement), Kaiser and colleagues lowered their aspiration to explaining only the probability of engagement. Thus, they adopted the Rasch model as a less rigid depiction of the paradigm (see the formula and its explanation). [1]
The Rasch model describes the natural logarithm of the ratio of the probability () that person k will switch off the lights (the specific behavior i) to the inverse probability () that person k will not switch off the lights as a function of person k's attitude (: e.g., his or her environmental attitude) minus all the financial and figurative costs that come with switching off lights (: e.g., needing to remember to switch off the lights when one leaves a room). This means more or less that k's general attitude () along with i's specific costs () determine the probability () that behavior i will become manifest should the opportunity arise. [6]
Only if a person's attitude exceeds the costs of a behavior will the behavior have a reasonable chance of manifesting (see Fig. 1). [7] This account of why and when behavior occurs also serves as the theoretical basis for the measurement of individual attitudes. [4]
Within the Campbell paradigm, a person's attitude is derived from the behavioral costs that this person will incur to achieve the goal that is implied by the attitude. [8] For example, the goal implied by environmental attitude is to protect the environment, whereas the goal implied by a health-focused attitude is to maintain or restore health. [9] [10]
Behavioral costs include everything that makes behavior objectively more or less demanding: things such as effort, time, and financial costs, but also social norms and expectations, cultural practices, and the antagonistic social preferences that go hand in hand with certain behaviors. [4] To illustrate: Someone with a pronounced preference for music by Taylor Swift (i.e., a person with a strong, positive attitude toward Taylor Swift's music) will generally put forth considerable effort and spend large amounts of money to attend a concert by her. By contrast, people with less of a commitment to Taylor Swift's music will attend a concert only if given a ticket as a gift. And those who do not like Taylor Swift at all will change the station when a song by her comes on the radio.
On the one hand, this example shows that people can engage in different behaviors to express a more or less strong commitment to/preference for Taylor Swift's music (e.g., attend a concert, listen to a song when it is played on the radio). On the other hand, the example also makes clear that whatever a person does to listen to Taylor Swift is accompanied by costs; these costs are again unique to a specific behavior. Consequently, the costs that someone bears and, thus, the behaviors that someone will engage in to attain the attitudinal goal, can be used to determine people's attitude levels. So far, several attitude scales have been developed on the basis of the Campbell paradigm: environmental attitude, [9] [11] attitude toward nature, [6] [9] [11] (negative) attitude toward anthropogenic climate change, [12] health-focused attitude, [10] attitude toward social contacts or privacy in the office, [13] attitude toward one's own mental vigor, [14] and attitude toward social expectations (i.e., people's conformity). [15]
In social psychology, attitudes have traditionally reflected people's personal reasons and, thus, their personal behavioral propensities. [16] [5] Analogously, what later became a measure of environmental attitude [9] [11] [17] was initially introduced as a measure of people's propensity to protect the environment. [18] [19] [20] This classical view of attitude as a personal reason is of course ultimately justified only when one is able to reliably and consistently anticipate manifest behavior with an attitude measure, [7] that is, if the notorious attitude-behavior gap does not really exist. [21] [22] [23] [24]
The Campbell paradigm's explanation of behavior is extremely parsimonious as can be concluded from the Rasch model. The likelihood of engaging in a behavior is a function of two countervailing factors: a person's attitude and the sociocultural boundary conditions in which the behavior takes place (see Fig. 1). These objective conditions ultimately determine the specific costs of a behavior. [8] [25] [26] [27] Accordingly, a vegetarian lunch is the result of not only a person's particular level of environmental attitude but also of the sociocultural boundary conditions in which the person's lunch is chosen; [28] for example, the promise of a financial reward makes vegetarian lunches more attractive. The question that remains is “for whom?”
The literature contains a considerable number of (sometimes contradictory) conjunctive behavioral explanations [29] that speak of the cost-moderated efficacy of people's attitudes (see Fig. 2a). [30] [31] [32] [33] By contrast, the Campbell Paradigm suggests that behavioral costs are unrestrictedly behaviorally effective and independent of people's attitude levels (see Fig. 2b). In other words, financial rewards make vegetarian lunches more probable for everyone. [34] This countervailing relationship between behavioral costs and attitude has been repeatedly quasi-experimentally confirmed in environmental protection research. [35] [36] [37]
If a person's attitude is derived from the behaviors that the person engages in, we cannot really be surprised to subsequently find that the very same behaviors are explained by this attitude. In other words, what is the point of predicting that Peter will donate money to Greenpeace after we have already seen him donate money to Greenpeace? This apparent circularity is why, for many including Campbell himself, [2] explaining behavior on the basis of the Campbell paradigm seems trivial and thus pointless. [38] However, Kaiser and colleagues have argued that any form of circularity can be comparatively easily avoided. [4]
When individual differences in people's attitude (e.g., in environmental attitude) are derived from verbal behaviors expressed in questionnaires (i.e., opinions, e.g., "protecting the environment is important"; appraisals, e.g., "I regret not doing more to combat climate change"; and claims of engaging in a behavior, e.g., "I recycle paper"), it is by no means trivial to use the correspondingly derived attitudinal differences to predict whether people will actually eat vegetarian lunches. Circularity can thus be avoided if the indicators (i.e., the manifestations used to derive individual levels of an attitude) and the consequences of the attitude (e.g., its manifest effects, the criteria to be explained) are logically and practically distinct. [4]
In order to measure individual differences in a certain attitude, one can therefore use verbal behaviors, such as retrospective self-reports of behavior, stated intentions, appraisals, and opinions. [39] This can be done with questionnaires. As consequences of people's attitude, one can then employ real behavior (e.g., the manifest choice of a vegetarian lunch) [34] or objectively measurable traces of behavior (e.g., the amount of electricity a person consumes annually). [40]
In the field of psychology, cognitive dissonance is described as the mental disturbance people feel when they realize their cognitions and actions are inconsistent or contradictory. This may ultimately result in some change in their cognitions or actions to cause greater alignment between them so as to reduce this dissonance. Relevant items of information include peoples' actions, feelings, ideas, beliefs, values, and things in the environment. Cognitive dissonance is typically experienced as psychological stress when persons participate in an action that goes against one or more of those things. According to this theory, when an action or idea is psychologically inconsistent with the other, people do all in their power to change either so that they become consistent. The discomfort is triggered by the person's belief clashing with new information perceived, wherein the individual tries to find a way to resolve the contradiction to reduce their discomfort.
In psychology, trait theory is an approach to the study of human personality. Trait theorists are primarily interested in the measurement of traits, which can be defined as habitual patterns of behavior, thought, and emotion. According to this perspective, traits are aspects of personality that are relatively stable over time, differ across individuals, are relatively consistent over situations, and influence behaviour. Traits are in contrast to states, which are more transitory dispositions.
Sociosexuality, sometimes called sociosexual orientation, is the individual difference in the willingness to engage in sexual activity outside of a committed relationship. Individuals who are more restricted sociosexually are less willing to engage in casual sex; they prefer greater love, commitment and emotional closeness before having sex with romantic partners. Individuals who are more unrestricted sociosexually are more willing to have casual sex and are more comfortable engaging in sex without love, commitment or closeness.
Environmental psychology is a branch of psychology that explores the relationship between humans and the external world. It examines the way in which the natural environment and our built environments shape us as individuals. Environmental psychology investigates how humans change the environment and how the environment influences humans' experiences and behaviors. The field defines the term environment broadly, encompassing natural environments, social settings, built environments, learning environments, and informational environments. According to an article on APA Psychnet, environmental psychology is when a person thinks to a plan, travels to a certain place, and follows through with the plan throughout their behavior.
The theory of planned behavior (TPB) is a psychological theory that links beliefs to behavior. The theory maintains that three core components, namely, attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control, together shape an individual's behavioral intentions. In turn, a tenet of TPB is that behavioral intention is the most proximal determinant of human social behavior.
Self-determination theory (SDT) is a macro theory of human motivation and personality that concerns people's innate growth tendencies and innate psychological needs. It pertains to the motivation behind people's choices in the absence of external influences and distractions. SDT focuses on the degree to which human behavior is self-motivated and self-determined.
Affect, in psychology, is the underlying experience of feeling, emotion, attachment, or mood. It encompasses a wide range of emotional states and can be positive or negative. Affect is a fundamental aspect of human experience and plays a central role in many psychological theories and studies. It can be understood as a combination of three components: emotion, mood, and affectivity. In psychology, the term affect is often used interchangeably with several related terms and concepts, though each term may have slightly different nuances. These terms encompass: emotion, feeling, mood, emotional state, sentiment, affective state, emotional response, affective reactivity, disposition. Researchers and psychologists may employ specific terms based on their focus and the context of their work.
The value-action gap is the discrepancy between the stated values of an individual or organisation and their actions. More generally, it is the difference between what people say and what people do. The phrase is associated with environmental geography, relating to attitudes and behaviors surrounding environmental issues. Numerous studies have reported an increase in global environmental concern, but have shown that environmental engagement is not adjusting in accordance.
The HEXACO model of personality structure is a six-dimensional model of human personality that was created by Ashton and Lee and explained in their book, The H Factor of Personality, based on findings from a series of lexical studies involving several European and Asian languages. The six factors, or dimensions, include honesty-humility (H), emotionality (E), extraversion (X), agreeableness (A), conscientiousness (C), and openness to experience (O). Each factor is composed of traits with characteristics indicating high and low levels of the factor. The HEXACO model was developed through similar methods as other trait taxonomies and builds on the work of Costa and McCrae and Goldberg. The model, therefore, shares several common elements with other trait models. However, the HEXACO model is unique mainly due to the addition of the honesty-humility dimension.
An implicit bias or implicit stereotype is the pre-reflective attribution of particular qualities by an individual to a member of some social out group.
Self-concealment is a psychological construct defined as "a predisposition to actively conceal from others personal information that one perceives as distressing or negative". Its opposite is self-disclosure.
Nature connectedness is the extent to which individuals include nature as part of their identity. It includes an understanding of nature and everything it is made up of, even the parts that are not pleasing. Characteristics of nature connectedness are similar to those of a personality trait: nature connectedness is stable over time and across various situations.
Person–environment fit is the degree to which individual and environmental characteristics match. Person characteristics may include an individual's biological or psychological needs, values, goals, abilities, or personality, while environmental characteristics could include intrinsic and extrinsic rewards, demands of a job or role, cultural values, or characteristics of other individuals and collectives in the person's social environment. Due to its important implications in the workplace, person–environment fit has maintained a prominent position in Industrial and organizational psychology and related fields.
Place attachment is the emotional bond between person and place, and one way of describing the relationship between people and spatial settings. It is highly influenced by an individual and his or her personal experiences. There is a considerable amount of research dedicated to defining what makes a place "meaningful" enough for place attachment to occur. Schroeder (1991) notably discussed the difference between "meaning" and "preference," defining meaning as "the thoughts, feelings, memories and interpretations evoked by a landscape" and preference as "the degree of liking for one landscape compared to another."
Green consumption is related to sustainable development or sustainable consumer behaviour. It is a form of consumption that safeguards the environment for the present and for future generations. It ascribes to consumers responsibility or co-responsibility for addressing environmental problems through the adoption of environmentally friendly behaviors, such as the use of organic products, clean and renewable energy, and the choice of goods produced by companies with zero, or almost zero, impact.
Sense of direction is the ability to know one's location and perform wayfinding. It is related to cognitive maps, spatial awareness, and spatial cognition. Sense of direction can be impaired by brain damage, such as in the case of topographical disorientation.
Difficulty of engagement is a notion in the Campbell paradigm, a model of behavior change with person-independent difficulty.
Pro-environmental behaviour is behaviour that people consciously choose in order to minimize the negative impact of their actions on the environment. Barriers to pro-environmental behaviour are the numerous factors that hinder individuals when they try to adjust their behaviours toward living more sustainable lifestyles.
Vicarious cognitive dissonance is the state of negative arousal in an individual from observing a member of their in-group behave in counterattitudinal ways. The phenomenon is distinguished from the type of cognitive dissonance proposed by Leon Festinger, which can be referred to as personal cognitive dissonance, because the discomfort is experienced vicariously by an observer rather than the actor engaging in inconsistent behavior. Like personal cognitive dissonance, vicarious cognitive dissonance can lead to changes in the observer’s attitudes and behavior to reduce psychological stress.
Florian G. Kaiser is a Swiss psychologist. Since 2008, he has been a professor of personality and social psychology at the Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg in Germany, currently serving as Chair of its Department of Personality and Social Psychology.