The relationship between empathy as a trait and pro-environmental behavior in Sweden

Sammanfattning

Climate change is a major threat and human activity has beenone of the main contributing factors to climate change. Whilesome previous research has focused on certain personality traitsand environmental behavior, there hasn’t been much researchfocusing on the relationship between empathy as a trait andpro-environmental behavior. The present study aimed toinvestigate this relationship between empathy as a trait andpro-environmental behavior in Sweden with political orientationas a control variable. Participants (N=110) were asked to answer14 statements measuring empathy as a trait and another 14statements measuring pro-environmental behavior of a 5 pointLikert scale. The results showed a significantly positivecorrelation between these two variables. Also, an individual’spolitical orientation was an important underlying factor to therelationship. The findings from the study contributed additionalinformation to this relationship in Sweden. With these results,we hope to raise awareness for further research in the area sothat pro-environmental behavior can be effectively promoted