Social Psychological Dimensions of Bioenergy Development and Public Acceptance

The best technology does no good unless people use it. Thus, the future of biofuels depends not only on development of effective and efficient technologies but also on the social, economic, and political climate within which people decide to use or avoid these new fuel sources and technologies. On a social psychological level, individual behaviors are often guided by people’s attitudes toward the behavior or objects involved and by the norms established by others within the social setting. Therefore, understanding technology adoption requires an understanding of how public attitudes and beliefs are formed or changed, as well as the implications of these changes for social norms. We provide an overview of basic social psychology research connecting attitudes and norms to individual behavior, and we describe implications of these social factors for biofuel development and use.