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Abstract:
This research determines whether making temporal comparisons with one’s own past behaviour can promote future mitigating intentions and behaviours. Participants compared their present selves to their past selves in terms of environmental behaviours, and indicated their future environmental behaviour intentions (Study 1). Participants indicated improvement from their past selves to their present selves – increasing their level of engagement in environmental behaviours as time progressed. Those reporting steeper improvement over the past years were also more likely to indicate a greater intention to perform environmental actions in the future, but only when their improvement was made salient. Different temporal trajectories were then examined to determine their effect on participants’ environmental intentions and actual subsequent behaviours (Study 2). Whether participants had improved, declined or remained consisten in their environemental behaviour from the past had no effect on future behavioural intentions or subsequent actions.