3.03 Escuela de Psicología

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Browsing 3.03 Escuela de Psicología by browse.metadata.categoriaods "12 Producción y consumo responsables"

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    Constructive non-conformity for eco-social change: a conceptual framework and application to organic waste management in Chile
    (2025) Amo Grez, Claudia Oriana; González Gutiérrez, Roberto; Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Escuela de Psicología
    The current eco-social crisis demands deep societal transformation, including changes in unsustainable social norms. While efforts to promote pro-environmental actions have often focused on encouraging conformity to new sustainable practices, less attention has been paid to what drives individuals to question or resist socially normalized but detrimental practices. This thesis explores constructive non-conformity as a meaningful and underexamined form of engagement in sustainability transitions. Constructive non-conformity refers to behaviours through which individuals challenge prevailing social norms—not from social detachment, disloyalty, or disregard for their community, but from a sense of care, responsibility, and commitment to the common good.The thesis pursued two main goals. The first was to lay the conceptual groundwork for studying constructive non-conformity in eco-social contexts—a phenomenon largely undertheorized and underexplored in the psychological literature. A critical review of the literature identified three core dimensions: (1) social identity, or one’s sense of belonging to a group; (2) normative conflict, defined as the internal tension individuals experience when they perceive group norms as problematic; and (3) moral motivations, including one’s self-perception as a moral agent and moral convictions regarding specific issues.The second goal was to use this framework to investigate constructive non-conformity in a real-world issue: the unsustainable practices of organic waste management (OWM) in Chile. Although approximately half of household waste is organic, it is still poorly managed. While the issue has entered public and policy agendas in Chile, efforts toward broad implementation are still underway, and unsustainable practices continue to prevail.To study what motivated people to question this situation, the thesis introduced the Normative Conflict Scale—a six-item instrument designed to assess how strongly individuals experience conflict or discomfort in relation to their community’s social norms (i.e., current national or municipal OWM practices). The first study (N = 295) provided evidence of the scale’s internal consistency and unidimensional structure. The second study (N = 330) offered evidence supporting the scale’s sensitivity to variations in normative conflict through an experimental design.This tool allowed for the examination of how normative conflict, social identification, and moral motivation shaped individuals’ willingness to change OWM practices. Findings showed that when people reported high discomfort with the current state of OWM—i.e., high normative conflict—they were more willing to engage in actions promoting change, regardless of their socio-territorial identification. In contrast, when they reported moderate levels of normative conflict, stronger identification with national or municipal communities became a significant predictor of people’s willingness to engage, through its connection with moral drivers. These results suggest two motivational pathways for constructive non-conformity: one grounded in experienced conflict with the norm, and another in identification-based moral engagement.By offering both a conceptual and empirical contribution, this thesis expands the tools for understanding and fostering citizen engagement in sustainability transformations. It highlights the importance of not only promoting new behaviours but also enabling people to critically assess and challenge normalized unsustainable practices. As such, this thesis offers valuable insights for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers working to build more sustainable futures.