Deceptive sustainability: Cognitive bias in people's judgment of the benefits of CO2 emission cuts

Holmgren, Mattias; Kabanshi, Alan; Langeborg, Linda; Barthel, Stephan; Colding, Johan; Eriksson, Ola; Sörqvist, Patrik

doi:10.1016/j.jenvp.2019.05.005

Cited by 21 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 32 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Previous research on the NFI has proposed an averaging bias as the mechanism underpinning the illusion (e.g., [9]), possibly as a result of people misapplying the previously mentioned social balancing heuristic proposed by Sörqvist and Langeborg [11]. The "averaging account" is also supported by research indicating that the NFI is not dependent on the number of "green" items (e.g., [21]), which it would be if any type of additive calculation was being made.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assuming the Best: Individual Differences in Compensatory “Green” Beliefs Predict Susceptibility to the Negative Footprint Illusion

2020

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Recent years have seen a marked increase in carbon emissions despite pledges made by the international community at the Paris Accord in 2015 to reduce fossil fuel production and consumption. Rebound effects could contribute to this phenomenon as, in which attempts to curb carbon emissions might have inadvertently led to an upswing in fossil fuel usage. The present study hypothesizes that rebound effects are driven by a misapplication of compensatory balancing heuristics, with the unintended outcome of producing inaccurate estimates of the environmental impact of "green" or environmentally friendly labelled products or behaviors. The present study therefore aims to investigate the relationship between participants' degree of compensatory thinking (e.g., "Recycling compensates for driving a car") and their susceptibility to the Negative Footprint Illusion, a widely replicated phenomenon demonstrating that the presence of "green" products biases carbon footprint estimations. One hundred and twelve participants were asked to complete a 15-item Compensatory Green Beliefs scale and to estimate the total carbon footprint of a set of 15 conventional houses, followed by a set that included 15 "green" houses in addition to 15 conventional houses. Results indicated that participants, on average, believed that the "green" houses were carbon neutral, and that susceptibility to the Negative Footprint Illusion was predicted by performance on the Compensatory Green Beliefs scale. This is the first study confirming that individual differences in cognitive processes (i.e., Compensatory Green Beliefs) are indeed related to inaccurate estimates of "green" products, providing a foundation for further investigation of the influence of "green" and compensatory beliefs on carbon footprint estimates.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assuming the Best: Individual Differences in Compensatory “Green” Beliefs Predict Susceptibility to the Negative Footprint Illusion

2020

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Current urbanization pressures have globally led to a general decline in urban dwellers' everyday interaction with nature [11], stressing the need to connect, or 'reconnect', urban dwellers with nature [12,13]. For one thing, it will be extremely difficult to gain public support for taking action against climate change without environmentally concerned citizens of all ages [14]. Emblematic to this point is Pyle's famous quote: "What is the extinction of a condor to a child that has never seen a wren?"…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Enabling Relationships with Nature in Cities

et al. 2020

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Limited exposure to direct nature experiences is a worrying sign of urbanization, particularly for children. Experiencing nature during childhood shapes aspects of a personal relationship with nature, crucial for sustainable decision-making processes in adulthood. Scholars often stress the need to ‘reconnect’ urban dwellers with nature; however, few elaborate on how this can be achieved. Here, we argue that nature reconnection requires urban ecosystems, with a capacity to enable environmental learning in the cognitive, affective and psychomotor domains, i.e., learning that occurs in the head, heart and hands of individuals. Drawing on environmental psychology, urban ecology, institutional analysis and urban planning, we present a theoretical framework for Human–Nature Connection (HNC), discuss the importance of nurturing HNC for children, elaborate on the role of property-rights and the importance of creating collective action arenas in cities for the promotion of urban resilience building. As values and environmental preconceptions underly environmental behavior, there are limits to achieving HNC in cities, as presumptive sentiments toward nature not always are positive. We end by discussing the role of new digital technologies in relation to HNC, and conclude by summarizing the major points brought forward herein, offering policy recommendations for HNC as a resilience strategy that can be adopted in cities throughout the world.

show abstract

“…Accordingly, the present research focuses on revealing consumers' perspectives about the environmental effects of foods by drawing attention to potential perceptual biases. Considering previous studies, several studies examined the negative footprint illusion of general products such as buildings (e.g., Holmgren et al, 2018aHolmgren et al, , 2018b and mental models (e.g., Kim & Schuldt, 2018;Holmgren, Kabanshi, Langeborg, Barthel, Colding, Eriksson, & Sörqvist, 2019), while only a few studies focused on perceptual biases related to food products' environmental impact (e.g., Gorissen & Weijters, 2016;Kusch, & Fiebelkorn, 2019). Accordingly, due to the insufficient number of studies, the current study was carried out to reveal the importance of fully understanding the negative footprint illusion.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pre-Service Science Teachers’ Perceptual Biases Regarding Sustainable Food Consumption: Negative Footprint Illusion

Ateş

2020

IJRES

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Global warming presents a threat for human and nature systems. For a few decades, sustainable food consumption behaviors have been considered remarkable to protect environmental sources. Changes in food consumption behaviors can benefit in improving environmental quality. While consumers are trying to reduce their environmental impact, it is needed to study what consumers think about the environmental impact of their consumption preferences. Earlier studies reported that sustainable conditions can bias judgments, since when an unsustainable plus a sustainable condition is thought as less environmentally impactful than the sustainable condition alone called “negative footprint illusion”. In line with this, the current study aimed to examine negative footprint perceptual biases regarding sustainable food consumption. A within-subjects design was used with a total of 165 pre-service teachers studying at the department of science education in a mid-sized university in Turkey. Data were collected through a series of scales developed by Gorissen and Weijters (2016). The scales include three-meal menu food types including ‘standard menu condition’, ‘sustainable-addition condition’, and ‘unsustainable-addition condition’. Participants were asked to evaluate the environmental impact of these menu conditions independently. The results of the study indicated that the participants believed that ‘sustainable-addition condition’ has a lower environmental impact than ‘standard menu condition’, even though ‘sustainable-addition condition’ indicates higher environmental impact- indicating a negative footprint illusion. It can be concluded that pre-service science teachers have perceptual biases related to sustainable food consumption even when they have enough knowledge related to environmental issues.

show abstract

Deceptive sustainability: Cognitive bias in people's judgment of the benefits of CO2 emission cuts

Cited by 21 publications

References 32 publications

Assuming the Best: Individual Differences in Compensatory “Green” Beliefs Predict Susceptibility to the Negative Footprint Illusion

Assuming the Best: Individual Differences in Compensatory “Green” Beliefs Predict Susceptibility to the Negative Footprint Illusion

Enabling Relationships with Nature in Cities

Pre-Service Science Teachers’ Perceptual Biases Regarding Sustainable Food Consumption: Negative Footprint Illusion

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About