Hi Jim,

Good letter to the editor, and it's always good to keep these issues before the
public.

I think I may be the only psychologist on this list, so I'll comment.  Social
psychological research mostly supports George's assertion.  For equal choices
(such as voting or selecting different brands) there can sometimes be a fairly
strong association between intention and action.  For more significant choices
(such as taking a train rather than a plane) intention (and related cognitive
factors such as knowledge, belief, attitude) usually account for very little
variance.  For decisions by politicians, contextual factors seem to almost
always trump intentions.

You are correct that action necessarily follows from intention, but intention
does not necessarily lead to action -- in most situations, contextual and
situational variables seem to be much more influential than dispositional
variables.

It is important that we, as environmental activists, recognize this.  To change
human behaviour in significant ways, it is most important that we focus on
providing people with environments that support the changes we want to see.  For
politicians the context is public opinion, donations, party affiliation,
lobbyists, etc.  For a good readable introduction to research in this area, see
Cialdini, R., "Influence: the psychology of persuasion."

John
=================================
John Scull
http://members.shaw.ca/jscull
"It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends
upon his not understanding it"
                                        --Upton Sinclair

> While being totally convinced by George Monbiot's arguments for grounding most
> of the aeroplanes flying today ('On the flight path to global meltdown' 21
> September), I question his assumption about connecting intention and action on
> doing something about it. He maintains 'there seems o be no connection', but
> this must be erroneous. For not only does all action follow from intention,
> but the key to taking action on climate change must be to change intention -
> for real.

What Monbiot actually points to is half-hearted intention, or kidding oneself
about one's real intention. It requires deeper insight than he gives it. Even
his quotation from a Buddhist: "It doesn't matter what you do, as long as you do
it with love" has a deeper meaning than he draws from it. For if you really love
and value someone, something, or the world, you will ensure that what you do
does not harm the object of your love and value.

Behind actions lie progressively: intentions, attitudes, motivations, priorities
and values. The key to changing behaviour on climate change, as with all the
other crises in the world, goes right back to values.

This is why our rallying call on climate change in Save our World is to "Value
Life Itself above ALL Else !!!". Otherwise we will all lose it.

Yours faithfully,


Jim Scott, Chairperson, SAVE OUR WORLD

14 Richborne Terrace, London SW8 1AU
020 7640 0492 & 07717 221617

Sign up on-line to VALUE LIFE ITSELF ABOVE ALL ELSE !!!
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Global site: www.save-our-world.net, Challenge page