Probing pro-environmental behaviour: a systematic review on its relationship with executive functions and self-regulation processes

Given the role of self-regulation and executive functions in enabling goal pursuit and top-down regulation of behaviour, it is plausible to assume that these factors would affect individuals’ ability to act upon their environmental concerns, hence contributing to explain individual differences in the performance of pro-environmental behaviour. This article examines the heterogeneous literature investigating the relationship of self-regulation processes (i.e., goal setting, monitoring and goal striving) and of executive functions (i.e., working memory, inhibitory control, and cognitive flexibility) with pro-environmental behaviour, with the aim of providing an extensive and unifying overview of this topic of research. We conducted a systematic literature review using the PRISMA protocol, searching three databases (Scopus, PubMed and PsycInfo). We included as records empirical studies on healthy adult participants, with no restrictions for the methodology, published in English in peer-reviewed journals. We excluded discussion, opinion, and review articles, as well as studies referring to human behaviours unrelated to environmental conservation, or referring to subjects other than individuals (e.g., households or organisations). After applying these criteria, 31 records with 41 individual studies with low estimated probability of bias were identified and included in the review. The reviewed literature suggests that greater top-down regulation is associated with increased engagement in pro-environmental behaviour. Yet, evidence is uneven for each self-regulation component and less robust for executive functions. Accordingly, we call for more research to be carried out to clarify the link between executive functions and self-regulation with respect to pro-environmental engagement, and to assess their intermingled contribution in reducing the environmental attitude-behaviour gap.