Pro-environmental behaviors: the role of critical thinking and emotional awareness in shaping sustainable practices

Abstract

Introduction – Critical thinking is increasingly recognized as a key competence for addressing global challenges, including sustainability. At the same time, emotional avoidance–particularly reduced awareness of negative emotions related to climate change–may undermine engagement in environmentally relevant actions. Methods – The present study examined the joint role of critical thinking and emotional awareness in shaping self-reported pro-environmental behaviors, using sustainable practices as the primary outcome. A sample of 309 adults (59.5% female; Mage = 31.5, SD = 11.7) completed validated measures of critical thinking dispositions, emotional avoidance, and sustainable behaviors. Results – Correlational analyses indicated that critical thinking was positively associated with sustainable behaviors (r = 0.34, p < 0.001), whereas lack of emotional awareness was negatively associated (r = −0.27, p < 0.01). Regression analyses further showed that higher critical thinking independently predicted greater engagement in sustainable behaviors, while reduced emotional awareness predicted lower engagement. Discussion – These findings suggest that fostering critical thinking and emotional awareness may support engagement in pro-environmental behavior. The study adopts a Theory of Planned Behavior-informed perspective to frame the investigation of psychological factors associated with self-reported sustainable behaviors, while acknowledging that no TPB model was directly tested.