being green makes you mean

Show off shoppers prepared to go green... but only if they are seen doing so | Mail Online

Buying fair trade coffee, organic milk and free range eggs may be good for the planet, but being green makes you mean, according to a new study.

In a provocative experiment researchers showed that people who buy environmentally friendly products are more likely to lie, cheat and be unkind than ordinary shoppers.

While many will disagree, the authors say the study is evidence that people have a limited stock of goodwill - and that being virtuous in one part of their lives gives them the licence to be mean in another.

The phenomena - dubbed "compensatory ethics" - came to light in a series of experiments carried out by psychologists at the University of Toronto, Canada.
Seen being green: These shoppers in Dublin were among those who queued for hours at stores across the world for Anya Hindmarsh's 'eco-friendly' bag

These shoppers in Dublin, who would probably be among the many who disagree with the survey, queued for one of Anya Hindmarsh's 'eco-friendly' bags

Nina Mazar, who led the study, said: "People act less altruistically and are more likely to cheat and steal after purchasing green products as opposed to conventional products."

The researchers paid 90 volunteers $5 to take part in an experiment designed to find out whether green consumption changes people's morality.

The students were split into two groups and sat in front of a computer where they were told to buy goods in either a normal online store, or an internet store selling mostly green products.

Those who had been to the "green store" were less generous when it came to sharing money with strangers than the volunteers who shopped in a conventional store, the researchers found.

The green consumers were also more likely to cheat at a simple computer game, the study found. And when they were invited to take a certain amount of money from an envelope as their reward, the green shoppers tended to take more cash than they were entitled too.

"Participants in the green store stole $0.48 more money from the envelope than those in the conventional store," the authors report in the journal Psychological Science.

Other experiments found that people behaved more honestly when they were shown green products - but not when they had to buy them.

"The halo associated with green consumerism has to be taken with reservations," the authors added. "While mere exposure to green products can have a positive effect by inducing pro-social and ethical acts, purchasing green products may license indulgence in self-interested and unethical behaviours."
A number of celebrities, including Renee Zellweger, pictured, have been seen driving the environmentally friendly Prius car

A number of celebrities, including Renee Zellweger, pictured, have been seen driving the environmentally friendly Prius car. Last week Zellweger showed the generous side to her character when she presented a photographer with a $100 voucher after he saved her from getting a parking fine

Dieter Frey, a social psychologist at the University of Munich, said the findings fitted in with patterns of human behaviour.

"At the moment in which you have proven your credentials in a particular area, you tend to allow yourself to stray elsewhere," he said.

Meanwhile a second study found that ethical shopping is little more than a way of showing off for many "green shoppers".

American researchers said people are prepared to pay extra for organic, fair trade and local produce when they shop in public - but less willing when shopping online in the privacy of their own homes.

"Green purchases are often motivated by status," said Dr Vladas Griskevicius, assistant professor of marketing at the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management.

"People want to be seen as being altruistic. Nothing communicates that better than by buying green products that often cost more and are of lower quality but benefit the environment for everyone."

In the paper "Going Green to Be Seen: Status, Reputation, and Conspicuous Conservation," Dr Griskevicius and co-authors found that people will sacrifice luxury and comfort for a green item.

However, they are less willing to give up their luxuries if they shop on the internet.

The paper is published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.