You might think that because eco-conscious shoppers care about the earth, they also have strong morals. But according to a recent study, that isn’t true – in fact, greenies are more likely to cheat and steal.
The study, conducted by by Nina Mazar and Chen-Bo Zhong at the University of Toronto, found that “subjects who made simulated eco-friendly purchases ended up less likely to exhibit altruism in a laboratory game and more likely to cheat and steal.”
From Slate:
In an experiment, participants were randomly assigned to select items they wanted to buy in one of two online stores. One store sold predominantly green products, the other mostly conventional items. Then, in a supposedly unrelated game, all of the participants were allocated $6, to share as they saw fit with an anonymous (and unbeknownst to them, imaginary) recipient. Subjects who had chosen items from the green store coughed up less money, on average, than their counterparts.
In a second experiment, participants were again assigned to shop in either a green or conventional store. Then they performed a computer task that involved earning small sums of cash. The setup offered the opportunity to cheat and steal with impunity. The eco-shoppers were more likely to do both.
Naturally, this study has ignited a fiery debate between people who shop green and those who don’t (and now believe they’re justified in that choice). And there are a lot of questions in play regarding how the study was run, and whether things like age and class values were taken into consideration. The insinuation here is that people who buy green products do so out of privilege, not morality.
But you have to admit that, even if we’re not all like that, there are plenty of smug holier-than-thou greenies out there who make the rest of the population THINK we’re all like that. And behavioral studies that have researched similar concepts not involving environmentalism found similar results.
The bottom line: being green doesn’t automatically make you a good person (and vice versa). Seems obvious, doesn’t it?
Link [Slate]
Photo credit: South Park Studios
