The justification of illegal anti-ecological behavior

  1. Martín Rodríguez, Ana María
  2. Ruiz Pacheco, Cristina
  3. Alonso Rodríguez, Isabel
Revista:
Psicothema

ISSN: 0214-9915

Año de publicación: 2013

Volumen: 25

Número: 3

Páginas: 336-341

Tipo: Artículo

DIALNET GOOGLE SCHOLAR lock_openAcceso abierto editor

Otras publicaciones en: Psicothema

Resumen

Background: Not everyone considers breaches of environmental laws as reprehensible behaviors or to the same extent. Research on the causal explanations of illegal anti-ecological behavior given by individuals is useful to analyze the social support of environmental laws and their consolidation as social and/or personal norms. This study aims to analyze the explanations selected by participants as most likely for environmental transgressions perpetrated by other persons in participants� surroundings. Method: 573 persons of both genders, aged between 17 and 74 years, living in a setting of high environmental protection answered a questionnaire including seven environmental breaches and 11 scales related to the amount of punishment that they would mete out to perpetrators, and possible causal explanations of the facts being described. Results: Data show that people generally consider illegal anti-ecological behavior as a reflection of the "badness" of perpetrators, but that certain circumstances can lead anyone to behave illegally in environmental terms. Conclusions: These results are discussed comparing participants� explanations with the explanations given by environmental transgressors in previous studies.

Referencias bibliográficas

  • Bakeman, R., & Quera, V. (1995). Analyzing interaction: Sequential analysis with SDIS and GSEQ. New York: Cambridge University Press.
  • Buss, A.R. (1978). Causes and reasons in attribution theory: A conceptual critique. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 36, 1311-1321.
  • De la Fuente, E., García-Cueto, E., San Luis, C., García, J., & de la Fuente, L. (2002). Escalamiento subjetivo de conductas delictivas [Subjective scaling of offending behaviors]. Metodología de las Ciencias del Comportamiento, 4, 67-76.
  • Du Rées, H. (2001). Can criminal law protect the environment? Journal of Scandinavian Studies in Criminology and Crime Prevention, 2, 109-126.
  • Eliason, S.L., & Dodder, R.A. (1999). Techniques of neutralization used by deer poachers in the western United States: A research note. Deviant Behavior, 20, 233-252.
  • Fritsche, I. (2002). Account strategies for the violation of social norms: Integration and extension of sociological and social psychological typologies. Journal for the Theory of Social Behavior, 32, 21-83.
  • García-Cueto, E., García, J., Fuente, L., Borges, A., Sánchez-Bruno, A., San Luis, C., et al. (2003). Escalamiento subjetivo de conductas delictivas en legos y expertos [Subjective scaling of offending behaviors by lay people and experts]. Psicothema, 15, 638-642.
  • Hernández, B., Martín, A., Hess, S., Martínez-Torvisco, J., Suárez, E., Salazar, M., Ruiz, C., & Ramírez, G. (2005). Análisis multidimensional de la percepción del delito ecológico [Multidimensional analysis of the perception of environmental crime]. Medio Ambiente y Comportamiento Humano, 6, 51-70.
  • Mårald, E. (2001). The BT Kemi scandal and the establishment of the environmental crime concept. Journal of Scandinavian Studies in Criminology and Crime Prevention, 2, 149-170.
  • Martín, A.M., & Hernández, B. (2008). La percepción social de las transgresiones contra el medio ambiente [The social perception of transgressions against the environment]. Boletín de la Sociedad Mexicana de Psicología, 147, 20-24.
  • Martín, A.M., Hernández, B., Hess, S., Suárez, E., Salazar-Laplace, M.E., & Ruiz, C. (2008). Valoración social y asignación de castigo en transgresiones a las leyes de protección del medio ambiente [Social evaluation and punishment assignment in transgressions against environmental protection laws]. Psicothema, 20, 90-96.
  • Martín, A.M., Salazar-Laplace, M.E., Hess, S., Ruiz, C., Kaplan, M.F., Hernández, B., & Suárez, E. (2008). Individual breaches of environmental in cases from public administration fi les. Deviant Behavior, 29, 611-639.
  • Martín, A.M., Salazar-Laplace, M.E., & Ruiz, C. (2008). The sequential analysis of transgressors' accounts of breaking environmental laws. The Spanish Journal of Psychology, 11, 115-124.
  • Parejo-Alfonso, L. (2008). Código de Medio Ambiente. Cizur Menor: Aranzadi.
  • Ross, L. (1977). The intuitive psychologist and his shortcomings: Distortions in the attribution process. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 10, pp. 173-220). New York: Academic Press.
  • Scott, M.B., & Lyman, S.M. (1968). Accounts. American Sociological Review, 33, 46-62.
  • Situ, Y. (1998). Public transgression of environmental law: A preliminary study. Deviant Behavior: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 19, 137-155.
  • Sykes, G.M., & Matza, D. (1957). Techniques of neutralization: A theory of delinquency. American Sociological Review, 43, 643-656.
  • Tyler, T.R. (2006). Psychological perspectives on legitimacy and legitimation. Annual Review of Psychology, 57, 375-400.
  • Walton, M.D. (1985). Negotiation of responsibility: Judgments of blameworthiness in a natural setting. Developmental Psychology, 21, 725-736.
Fuente de los datos: Dialnet