How will I be remembered? Conserving the Environment for Legacy’s Sake (Study Data)

We suggest that these challenges can be turned into opportunities by making salient relevant long-term goals and motives, thus shifting preferences for present-future and self-other trade-offs at the point of decision-making. Here we test whether individuals’ latent motivation to leave a positive legacy can be leveraged to increase engagement with climate change and other long-term environmental problems.

In an initial study, we find that individual differences in legacy motivation are positively associated with pro-environmental behaviors and intentions. In an experiment, we demonstrate that priming legacy motives prior to providing an opportunity to donate to an environmental charity increases donations, as well as self-reported pro-environmental intentions and beliefs. Using a new short-form scale designed to measure legacy motives, we confirm that changes in environmental behavior and belief induced by the legacy prime are mediated by increased concern for one’s future legacy.