Research Hub

Ecological Humility

ASU Farm advances research at the intersection of human flourishing and sustainability. Our first study develops a reliable way to measure Ecological Humility: how people see their place within the natural world and how this virtue relates to real decisions and behaviors. We take an interdisciplinary approach linking philosophy, psychology, sustainability, and education to study how virtues shape choices about food, land, and community. Our projects combine field learning at ASU Farm with survey and behavioral methods, producing practical tools for educators and evidence that can inform policy and program design. As the research portfolio grows, we will add studies on flourishing and well being, decision making under ecological uncertainty, and classroom interventions that help students translate values into action, partnering with faculty, students, and community organizations along the way.

Ecological Humility Measurement

We created and validated a 10-item scale that reliably captures Ecological Humility in adults across the United States.

ASU Farm faculty Stylianos Syropoulos and Tyler DesRoches, with postdoctoral researcher Kyle Law, ran six online surveys to design and validate a brief, psychometrically sound instrument for Ecological Humility. After initial validation with the public and sustainability researchers, four larger surveys on Prolific established strong reliability and validity.

Surveys Conducted

1200

U.S. adult participants

Items in the Ecological Humility scale

ASU Farm researchers leading the study

From resilience to antifragility? Satisfying human needs in a disruptive world

Abstract

Calls to make ecological systems, organizations, and people “resilient” have become central to sustainability science. However, resilience is a broad term that sometimes means returning to the status quo. In a disruptive world, characterized by interconnected crises such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and pandemics, returning to the status quo may be neither feasible nor desirable. In this Overview article we suggest an alternative framework, antifragility, whereby the explicit goal is to improve after stress. We position antifragility not as a replacement for resilience, but as a complement to this concept, which is indispensable to sustainability science. This orientation leads to embracing key features of antifragile systems, including decentralization, optionality, and a proactive approach to stressors. We explore case studies in water, energy, and food systems to demonstrate how an antifragile approach applies to satisfying human needs in the real world. We then discuss trade-offs inherent in an antifragile approach, such as who bears the costs when systems learn from stress. Finally, we outline a future research agenda to make antifragility testable and accountable.

Publication Link

Ecological humility as a distinct moral orientation toward nature: Scale development and validation

Abstract

Across 8 studies (N = 1724, seven were pre-registered), we construct and validate the 10-item Ecological Humility Inventory (EHI), a self-report measure of ecological humility, a novel moral psychological orientation characterized by recognition of the limits of humanity's knowledge, power, and control over nature and emphasizes the need for humanity to be aware of its interdependence with and subsequent respect for the natural world. In Study 1, Prolific workers generated traits central to the construct to aid in item generation. Studies 2a-2c examined the face validity of the items in expert samples and the general population. Studies 3a-3b and 4a-4b provided evidence for the validity (construct, convergent, discriminant, predictive) and reliability of the scale. The inventory displayed psychometric properties that met stringent fit criteria (invariance across US demographic groups and dynamic fit indexes). Higher scores on the EHI correlated positively with other constructs predictive of concern for nature (environmental identity, nature connectedness, awe, anthropomorphism of nature and animals), character virtues, and prosocial tendencies (empathic concern, perspective taking, patience, sincerity, fairness, modesty, honesty-humility). Scores also correlated negatively with ecological and social dominance orientation, anthropocentrism, speciesism and human superiority beliefs. Importantly, scores also predicted increased performance in a behavioral measure of proenvironmentalism, even after controlling for environmental identity and nature connectedness. We conclude that ecological humility is a character virtue that demands further exploration as an avenue for both rethinking the human-nature relationship, promoting human flourishing, and motivating sustainable behavior.

Publication Link

Why it matters

Measuring Ecological Humility gives educators and researchers a concrete way to track growth in values that motivate sustainable action. A short, reliable scale lets us evaluate programs, design better learning experiences, and understand how virtue connects to real-world decisions.

Whats Next?

Use the scale to target and track virtue development in ASU Farm activities.
Study links to flourishing and well-being.
Test how humility shapes sustainable decisions across domains.
Design educational interventions to cultivate this virtue in students and the public.

Key Outcomes:

Greater general humility
More patience
Stronger connection to the earth
Higher likelihood to identify as an environmentalist
More sustainable choices in a web-based task