BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS AND SUSTAINABILITY: REVIEW OF THE ARTICLES PUBLISHED ON BEHAVIOR AND SOCIAL ISSUES FROM 2005 TO 2016

Abstract

Behavior analysts have investigated sustainable practices since the 1970s. Nonetheless, such researches are limited in coverage of the research/intervention targets, long-term maintenance of pro-environmental behavior, and its dissemination to a broad public. The present research aimed to identify the main intervention/analysis targets and the main contribution of articles published between 2005 and 2016 in the journal Behavior and Social Issues. The articles were identified by the descriptors: sustainability, sustainable, global warming, climate change, pro-environmental behavior, environmental protection, environmental conservation, recycling, and energy use. Of the 13 articles analyzed, nine investigated, theoretically, new units of analysis/intervention, the relation between psychological processes and sustainability, and the effects of immediate and delayed consequences on sustainable choices. Four articles investigated the effects of antecedents, consequents, and rules on recycling, on energy consumption, on the transmission of sustainable practices in a laboratory microsociety, and on the adaptation of a commercial building. The present review provides an overview of the area and has the potential to guide researchers, students, and interested audiences in the search for relevant variables and strategies to promote pro-environmental practices.Keywords: sustainability, pro-environmental behavior, behavior analysis