Green Mind and Sustainable Actions: Exploring Cognitive, Personality, and Emotional Underpinnings of Pro-environmental Behaviours

Dear Colleagues,

Environmental consciousness is deeply embedded in our everyday lives and the pursuit of sustainable actions assumes a pivotal role. The link between human psychology and pro-environmental behaviours is a compelling area to explore as the world calls us to assume collective ecological responsibility.

Imagine a world where everyone is aware of their environmental footprint and actively engages in behaviours that nurture, protect, and sustain the planet. What psychological features drive such pro-environmental behaviours? The answer to this question involves how human characteristics interact with the environment.

This Special Issue looks at how cognitive processes, personality traits, and emotions influence people’s awareness, attitudes, and actions toward the environment throughout their lives. Scholars are encouraged to contribute research across different disciplines that delve into the complex aspects of eco-sustainability. Potential topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

1. Cognitive processes that lead individuals to adopt and maintain environmentally friendly practices throughout different stages of life. Articles in this Special Issue will delve into cognitive processes such as intelligence, reasoning, and decision-making.
2. Personality traits involved in driving eco-green practices. We welcome contributions that explore how personality traits affect people’s attitudes and actions toward the environment, taking into account how these traits change over the course of life.
3. Emotions associated with environmentally conscious choices. We encourage articles that explore how emotions, such as empathy, concern, and hope, change throughout life and impact people’s dedication to eco-sustainable living.
4. Eco-educational interventions based on cognitive, personality, or emotional domains aimed at fostering pro-environmental attitudes and behaviours at different life stages.  

The current Special Issue encourages submissions of single-case, longitudinal studies, cross-sectional research, cross-cultural comparisons, and theoretical papers to provide a comprehensive picture of the complex relationships between people and eco-green sustainability.

Dr. Marco Giancola
Prof. Dr. Simonetta D’Amico
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• cognition
• personality
• emotions
• sustainability
• green-psychology