Ethical and green living - going green could make you mean...
Image via WikipediaEthical and green living - going green could make you green...
How going green may make you mean - Ethical consumers less likely to be kind and more likely to steal, study finds
• You ask, they answer: Ethical Consumer magazine
A consumer of 'ethical' products such as organic food might be more inclined to cheat and steal, the study found. Photograph: David Sillitoe/Guardian
When Al Gore was caught running up huge energy bills at home at the same time as lecturing on the need to save electricity, it turns out that he was only reverting to "green" type.
According to a study, when people feel they have been morally virtuous by saving the planet through their purchases of organic baby food, for example, it leads to the "licensing [of] selfish and morally questionable behaviour", otherwise known as "moral balancing" or "compensatory ethics".
Do Green Products Make Us Better People is published in the latest edition of the journal Psychological Science. Its authors, Canadian psychologists Nina Mazar and Chen-Bo Zhong, argue that people who wear what they call the "halo of green consumerism" are less likely to be kind to others, and more likely to cheat and steal. "Virtuous acts can license subsequent asocial and unethical behaviours," they write. [See footnote
And more...http://www.guardian.co.nz/environment/2010/mar/15/green-consumers-more-likely-steal
Labels: Al Gore, Business, canada, Chen-Bo Zhong, environment, Environmentalism, Ethics, Guardian, Guardian.co.uk, Nina Mazar, Psychological Science, Television
posted by Unknown @ 12:08 AM
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