Considering that the growth model that dominates across the world is unsustainable, an increasing trend of publications indicates that transformative social change toward a “degrowth” economy is necessary to tackle climate change. Defined as an alternative sustainable social-economic model aiming for a downscaling of production and consumption, degrowth has been widely analyzed and documented in social and environmental sciences. However, despite this increasing academic interest, degrowth maintains a rather negative public perception, and remains under-researched in psychology. In a series of four online studies (N=2,408), collected in the US and UK, one of which was pre-registered and tested on a representative sample, our research investigated whether support for this alternative sustainable social-economic model could be influenced by its name labelling (Rebirth vs. Degrowth) and its definition framing (Promotion vs. Prevention), using the Regulatory Focus Theory. The main findings indicate that support for social change toward a degrowth economy increased when its definition was framed in terms of achieving positive consequences (Promotion) rather than avoiding negative consequences (Prevention), regardless of its name labelling. Overall, this article introduces the concept of degrowth to environmental psychology and in doing so hopes to inspire more psychological scientists to research this transformative social-economic model.

考虑到在世界范围内占主导地位的增长模式是不可持续的，出版物的增长趋势表明，应对“减员”经济的变革性社会变革对于应对气候变化是必要的。退化被定义为旨在降低生产和消费规模的替代性可持续社会经济模型，在社会和环境科学中已被广泛分析和记录。然而，尽管学术兴趣在不断增长，但人们对去成长性的看法仍相当消极，公众对心理学的研究仍很不足。在美国和英国收集的一系列四项在线研究（N = 2,408）中，其中一项已预先注册并在代表性样本上进行了测试，我们的研究使用管制重点理论，研究了这种替代性可持续社会经济模型的支持是否会受到其名称标签（重生与成长）及其定义框架（促进与预防）的影响。主要研究结果表明，当社会变革的定义以实现积极后果（促进）而不是避免消极后果（预防）为框架时，无论其名称标签如何，对退化经济的社会变革的支持都会增加。总体而言，本文向环境心理学引入了“退化”的概念，并以此来激发更多的心理学家研究这种变革性的社会经济模型。主要研究结果表明，当社会变革的定义以实现积极后果（促进）而不是避免消极后果（预防）为框架时，无论其名称标签如何，对退化经济的社会变革的支持都会增加。总体而言，本文向环境心理学引入了“退化”的概念，并以此来激发更多的心理学家研究这种变革性的社会经济模型。主要研究结果表明，当社会变革的定义以实现积极后果（促进）而不是避免消极后果（预防）为框架时，无论其名称标签如何，对退化经济的社会变革的支持都会增加。总体而言，本文向环境心理学引入了“退化”的概念，并以此来激发更多的心理学家研究这种变革性的社会经济模型。