Going ’Green’ makes you mean?

Going ’Green’ makes you mean?
2010 03 23

By Johnathan Harwood | TheFirstPost.co.uk

Psychologists say people who buy green goods are less altruistic than those who don’t.
By Johnathan Harwood | TheFirstPost.co.uk

The boom in organic and environmentally friendly goods is turning modern consumers into self-obsessed hypocrites who use their ethical purchases to justify unethical and amoral behaviour, according to new research. [PDF]

The notion that people are motivated by concerns about Mother Earth appears to have been consigned to the dustbin of history along with the hippy ideals of the 1960s and 1970s. In the modern world people are narcissistic and want payback - and believe that if they earn moral brownie points in the supermarket or by driving a hybrid car they can cash them in elsewhere.

Bizarrely the research, published in the journal Psychological Science, suggests that while being physically surrounded by ethical goods makes people ’better’, actually buying them can have the opposite effect.

The report, by Nina Mazar and Chen-Bo Zhong of the University of Toronto, states: "In line with the halo associated with green consumerism, people act more altruistically after mere exposure to green than conventional products. However, people act less altruistically and are more likely to cheat and steal after purchasing green products as opposed to conventional products."

The news will be greeted with glee by opponents of theories like climate change who resent what they see as the self-righteous and overweening influence of ’woolly liberal’ thinking on their lives.

Mazar and Zhong write: "Purchasing green products may produce the counterintuitive effect of licensing asocial and unethical behaviors.

"Because purchasing green products affirms individuals’ values of social responsibility.

and ethical consciousness, we predict that purchasing green products will establish moral credentials, ironically licensing selfish and morally questionable behavior."

The scenario could be described as a moral equivalent to carbon offsetting - the practice of donating to projects aimed at reducing greenhouse gasses immediately before embarking on an activity that generates large carbon emissions.

There are plenty of celebrities whose actions appear to back up the theory. Al Gore famously ran up massive electricity bills at his home, while at the same time calling on people to use less energy.

Even respected green celebs are not immune. Zac Goldsmith has impeccable environmental credentials and was editor of the Ecologist until 2007, but late last year it emerged that the would-be Tory MP has dodged tax in the UK by taking up non-dom tax status. Similarly, U2 frontman Bono relocated the band’s business to the Netherlands to avoid paying higher taxes in Ireland.

Meanwhile the father of green campaigners, Sting, was once criticised for hiring a private jet for a flight where he was the only passenger. And his band The Police were labelled the dirtiest in the world because of the amount of pollution created during their reunion tour in 2007-8.

Article from: TheFirstPost.co.uk

Buying green permits being mean: study
From: CBC.ca

Kermit the Frog may have got it only half right when he said "it ain’t easy being green." A new study suggests that when you’re green, it ain’t easy being nice, either.

The study, conducted by two University of Toronto professors, found that consumers who bought environmentally friendly products were less likely to be altruistic and more likely to cheat and steal.

"Purchasing green products may produce the counterintuitive effect of licensing asocial and unethical behaviours by establishing moral credentials," the study found. "Thus, green products do not necessarily make us better people."

Titled Do Green Products Make Us Better People?, the study by Nina Mazar and Chen-Bo Zhong is set to be published in the next issue of the Psychological Science journal.

Mazar, a self-described green consumer, says she was surprised that buying green products appeared to sanction bad behaviours. "It went beyond just how nice people were to others," she told CBC News.

The professors found that participants who bought green products in the study were also more likely to lie and steal money.

Think twice, author urges

In one part of the experiment, 90 University of Toronto students were seated in front of a computer and asked to identify whether the screen had more dots on the left or right, knowing they would receive a nickel for one side and half a cent for the other.

Volunteers who had bought green products not only lied to earn more money, but stole additional money out of an envelope with $5 worth in change, which was set beside the computer for participants to take their earnings from.

Merely exposing participants to green products, however, seemed to trigger more altruism. In an anonymous game played by 156 students, those shown an online store with mostly environmentally friendly products gave away more money to a partner than those who browsed a store with few green goods.

But the results were flipped if the participants bought products. Then, those who bought products in the green store shared less money than those in the regular store.

So while exposure seemed to increase "subsequent pro-social behaviour," acting on it seemed to give licence for "deviating behaviour," the study says.

As for Mazar, she can’t personally recall an incident where she felt like a green purchase led her to a later misdeed. "At the end of the day, it’s not so clear how conscious these kinds of licensing effects are," she says.

She hopes the study makes others think twice about their conduct. "It is important that they don’t feel morally superior just because they have recycled something."

Article from: CBC.ca
AngryTshirt: Source

Share |

Latest News from our Front Page

No Bank Deposits Will Be Spared from Confiscation
2013 05 18
As alert Zero Hedge readers are aware, this week the EURO Politburo is busy debating the dodgy subject of deposit "bail-ins." The following article very succinctly explains this odious mode of fractal fractional reserve end-game chicanery. The author encourages all of you to share it with others. NO BANK DEPOSITS WILL BE SPARED FROM CONFISCATION By Matthias Chang Esq, futurefastforward.com (with author’s permission) I challenge ...

Big Bang: Biggest meteorite explosion rocks the Moon
2013 05 17
NASA scientists have recorded the biggest ever meteorite impact on the Moon, with an explosion equal to 5 tons of TNT. The event is part of ‘lunar meteor showers’ observed by astronauts of the Moon exploration program. The 40-kg meteorite measuring 0.3 to 0.4 meters wide traveling 56,000 mph slammed through the Moon’s surface on March 17, 2013. The explosion from the ...

Military Says No Presidential Authorization Needed To Quell “Civil Disturbances”
2013 05 17
A recent Department of Defense instruction alters the US code applying to the military’s involvement in domestic law enforcement by allowing US troops to quell “civil disturbances” domestically without any Presidential authorization, greasing the skids for a de facto military coup in America along with the wholesale abolition of Posse Comitatus. The instruction (embedded at the end of this article), which ...

Ancient Maya Pyramid Destroyed in Belize
2013 05 17
An archaeological group says it plans to take legal action. Despite its small size, the Caribbean country of Belize is known for a few outstanding characteristics: a spectacular barrier reef, a teeming rain forest, and extensive Maya ruins. It now has one fewer of those ruins. A construction company in Belize has been scooping stone out of the major pyramid at the site ...

Ginger: A Warming Herb
2013 05 17
Ginger is an Asian herb that is particularly well known to us in the West. Over time, and with trial and error, its stimulating properties and piquant flavor have been integrated into both our herbal “materia medica” and cuisine. Brewed as an herbal tea, ginger root is particularly helpful for those people who have underactive stomachs and difficulty producing adequate amounts ...

More News »