Although both altruistic and ecological behaviors can be considered prosocially driven behaviors, our psychological understanding of what motivates action in either the human or ecological domains is still in its infancy. We aimed to assess connection to nature and connection to humans as mediators of the relationship between prosocial propensity and prosocial behaviors in both the ecological and human domains. This study used empathy as an indicator of an individual’s prosocial propensity. The data for the study was collected through surveys in Russian (841 participants) and Spanish (418 participants). The study demonstrated that an individual’s prosocial propensity can be actioned into ecological (nature-related) behavior through connection to nature. Similarly, an individual’s prosocial propensity can be actioned into altruistic (human-related) behavior through connection to humans. However, the present study also demonstrates that an individual’s prosocial propensity can be directed to humans through a connection to nature. Thus, altruistic and ecological behaviors are two related classes of behavior, driven by the same prosocial propensity of the individual. This study is an important step towards generating scientific support for the claim that traditionally separate teaching of prosocial and environmental subjects should be combined into a single educational approach. An integrated approach will contribute to a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary effort to create a society that is both ecologically and socially sustainable.

Prosociality (caring for one another) has been identified as a correlate of pro-environmental behavior. While our study affirmed the role of the Catholic Church in teaching prosociality, it did not reveal any direct link between Catholic identity and pro-environmental behavior. By incorporating environmental education into its teaching, the Catholic Church might promote environmentalism and inspire followers to take a leap towards their “ecological conversion”.Catholic religious groups have historically been underrepresented in environ mental movements. On the other hand, researchers have sought for decades to understand the factors that determine pro-environmental behavior. In this paper, data were obtained from two studies capturing different sample populations in Chile. The objective of the first study was to explore the interconnection of the Catholic religious identity, prosocial and pro-environmental behaviors. The objective of the second study was to explore the interconnection of the Catholic religious identity, pro-environmental behavior and connectedness to nature. Participants were students at a Catholic university and members of the general public. The findings demonstrate that Catholic identity positively correlated with prosocial behavior, which in turn positively correlated with pro-environmental behavior. However, we found no direct link between Catholic identity and pro-environmental behavior. Likewise, self-reporting Catholic individuals scored significantly lower on the scale of connectedness to nature, in comparison with nonreligious persons. Finally, the surveys revealed that connectedness to nature positively correlated with pro-environmental behavior.

Both altruistic and ecological behaviours are considered prosocially driven behaviours, but our understanding of what motivates action in either the human or ecological domain is still in its infancy. Our goal was to assess connection to nature, connection to people, and connection to country as mediators of the relationship between prosocial propensity and prosocial behaviours in both the ecological and human domains. This study used honesty-humility as an indicator of prosocial propensity. Data for the study were collected through online surveys in Spanish. The survey was answered by 438 adolescent participants aged 11–19 years. The present study demonstrates that personal prosocial propensity can be directed to a particular domain of prosocial behaviour (ecological or altruistic) through the individual’s connection to the relevant domain. Specifically, the effect of prosocial propensity on ecological behaviour was positively mediated by connection to people and connection to nature, but negatively mediated by connection to country. For altruistic behaviour, the effect of prosocial propensity was positive via connection to people, nature, and country. Future research is called for, in particular, to examine the role of connection to country in ecological behaviour.

The concept of attitude toward soil is emerging, with a slim choice of scales available to collect hard data. There is also a dearth of standard scales to acquire precise data on students’ knowledge of soil. Therefore, the objectives of the present study were: (1) to devise appropriate scales to quantify theoretical soil knowledge and attitude toward soil, and (2) to quantify the effect of laboratory studies and fieldwork on students’ theoretical soil knowledge and attitude toward soil. The [...] ABSTRACT The concept of attitude toward soil is emerging, with a slim choice of scales available to collect hard data. There is also a dearth of standard scales to acquire precise data on students’ knowledge of soil. Therefore, the objectives of the present study were: (1) to devise appropriate scales to quantify theoretical soil knowledge and attitude toward soil, and (2) to quantify the effect of laboratory studies and fieldwork on students’ theoretical soil knowledge and attitude toward soil. The