Test-retest reliability and construct validity of the Pro-Environmental Behavior Task

The study of pro-environmental behavior has been dominated by self-report scales and field observations. Although both approaches have their merits, they also suffer from critical limitations that obstruct progress towards a better understanding of pro-environmental behavior. The Pro-Environmental Behavior Task (PEBT) was developed to address these limitations by facilitating the study of actual pro-environmental behavior under controlled laboratory conditions. In the present research, we examined whether the PEBT can also provide a valid and reliable indicator of people's propensity to show pro-environmental behavior. In support of the task's test-retest reliability, we found PEBT choice behavior to be strongly correlated across a period of approximately one month (r = 0.81). In addition, PEBT performance was significantly correlated to both objective observations and subjective reports of other pro-environmental behaviors. Our results further suggest participants' PEBT choices to be most closely related to individual differences in transportation behavior. These findings indicate that the PEBT might prove useful not only as a procedure for the experimental study of pro-environmental behavior, but also for the performance-based assessment of a person's propensity to engage in pro environmental behavior.