Humanity self-construal and ecological self-construal : the effects of self-expansion on psychological, prosocial, and pro-environmental outcomes

Abstract

Self-construal is a central concept of self in social and cross-cultural psychology, referring to the specific ways in which individuals define and make sense of the self, others, and the interconnectedness between the two. There are two major types of self-construals: independent self-construal and interdependent self-construal, reflecting a self-representation that is confined to the individual self or expanded to include social others in one's self-view. However, whether there are only two types of self-construal remains debatable. According to the self-categorization theory, a conceptual extension of the social identity theory, the self can be categorized into different levels of inclusiveness. Along this line of reasoning, the existing models of self-construal have only addressed the lowest two levels of self-categories, namely personal and social, whereas more inclusive self-categories on the humanity and natural levels are largely understudied, signaling an important gap in self-construal research that needs to be filled. To incorporate humanity and nature into the self-construal framework, I refined the construct of humanity self-construal (HSC) as an expanded self-representation defined by its connectedness to humankind, as differentiated from other nonhuman entities. I also proposed the construct of ecological self-construal (ESC) as an expanded self-representation defined by its connectedness to all entities of nature, including humans. Four cross-sectional studies were conducted to explore and validate the factor structures of the scales of HSC and ESC, and to examine the nomological network of the two constructs, including their differential effects on well-being, prosociality, and environmentalism. In Study 1, data from 330 university students were collected in Hong Kong. Results from the exploratory factor analysis showed that HSC and ESC were two distinct constructs. The distinction between HSC and ESC was validated in Study 2, using confirmatory factor analysis on data from 321 university students in Hong Kong. HSC and ESC showed differential effects in predicting various well-being, prosocial, and pro-environmental indicators, after controlling for human-nature orientations. In Study 3, the factor structures of the HSC-Scale and the ESC-Scale were further validated with a multigroup confirmatory factor analysis of 421 community adults from three distinct groups: environmental affiliates, humanitarian affiliates, and non-affiliates in Hong Kong. Differential incremental predictive utility of HSC and ESC was further demonstrated. Finally, in Study 4, I extended the investigation of HSC and ESC to a global context. Using data from a stratified sample of 12,253 community adults from 35 countries/societies across the globe, the distinction between HSC and ESC was further validated. In summary, the present research broadens the scope of self-construal investigation from the personal and social levels to humanity and natural levels and addresses a much-needed clarification of the long-standing confusion over the conceptualization and measurements of self-nature relationship. The findings show the differential effects of HSC and ESC on well-being, prosociality, and environmentalism.