| Summary: | Human behavior contributes to a waste of environmental resources and our society
is looking for ways to reduce this problem. However, humans may perceive feedback
about their environmental behavior as threatening. According to self-determination
theory (SDT), threats decrease intrinsic motivation for behavior change. According
to self-affirmation theory (SAT), threats can harm individuals’ self-integrity. Therefore,
individuals should show self-defensive biases, e.g., in terms of presenting counterarguments
when presented with environmental behavior change. The current study
examines how change recipients respond to threats from change agents in interactions
about environmental behavior change. Moreover, we investigate how Motivational
Interviewing (MI) — an intervention aimed at increasing intrinsic motivation — can reduce
threats at both the social and cognitive level. We videotaped 68 dyadic interactions with
change agents who either did or did not use MI (control group). We coded agents
verbal threats and recipients’ verbal expressions of motivation. Recipients also rated
agents’ level of confrontation and empathy (i.e., cognitive reactions). As hypothesized,
threats were significantly lower when change agents used MI. Perceived confrontations
converged with observable social behavior of change agents in both groups. Moreover,
behavioral threats showed a negative association with change recipients’ expressed
motivation (i.e., reasons to change). Contrary to our expectations, we found no relation
between change agents’ verbal threats and change recipients’ verbally expressed selfdefenses
(i.e., sustain talk). Our results imply that MI reduces the adverse impact
of threats in conversations about environmental behavior change on both the social
and cognitive level. We discuss theoretical implications of our study in the context of
SAT and SDT and suggest practical implications for environmental change agents in
organizations.
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