"Facing our inevitable end...." Data in SPSS for paper in Psychology Sept 2025

While some believe
protecting the environment is a necessity to avoid the end of the world, others
avoid the issue entirely due to the fear that arises from considering this
issue. Our study examined the effects of death thoughts on peoples’
environmental attitudes and behaviors, accounting for their guiding values of
life. College students (N = 120) reported their guiding values in life, then
wrote about their own death (mortality salience manipulation) or about dental
pain. Participants completed two filler tasks and then reported their
environmental behavior, attitudes, and self-identity; they also answered demographic
questions. Mortality salience positively affected peoples’ ecocentric attitudes
regardless of baseline guiding values and other demographic differences. However,
mortality salience did not influence perceived environmental behaviors,
environmental self-identity, or anthropocentric and apathetic attitudes toward
the environment. Women reported engaging in more environmentally-friendly behaviors
than men. These results suggest that while provoking death thoughts can
positively affect the pro-environmentalism of some persons, understanding of
the situations under which this might occur requires further study.

尽管部分观点认为环境保护是规避世界末日的必要举措，但另有部分人群因直面该议题时产生的恐惧心理，选择完全回避环境问题。本研究考察了死亡意念对个体环境态度与行为的影响，并将个体的人生主导价值观纳入分析控制变量。本研究招募120名大学生作为被试（N=120），首先让其报告自身的人生主导价值观，随后分别完成死亡凸显（mortality salience）操纵任务——即回忆并书写自身死亡相关内容，或书写与牙痛相关的内容。被试随后完成两项填充任务，之后报告自身的环境行为、环境态度与环境自我同一性，并填写人口统计学相关问卷。结果显示，死亡凸显操纵可显著正向提升个体的生态中心主义（ecocentric）环境态度，且该效应不受基线人生主导价值观与其他人口统计学特征差异的影响。但死亡凸显操纵并未对个体感知的环境行为、环境自我同一性，以及人类中心主义（anthropocentric）与冷漠型环境态度产生显著影响。此外，女性被试报告的环保行为参与度显著高于男性被试。本研究结果表明，尽管唤起死亡意念可对部分个体的亲环境行为产生正向影响，但该效应发生的具体情境条件仍有待进一步探究。