“Green to be seen” and “brown to keep down”: Visibility moderates the effect of identity on pro-environmental behavior

Abstract

Social identities predict pro-environmental behavior, but the strength may depend on whether the behavior is visible to others. When an environmentalist considers a pro-environmental behavior such as carrying reusable grocery bags, being observed by others may motivate signaling the valued group membership and may increase behavior ("green to be seen").When an anti-environmentalist considers a pro-environmental behavior that could signal that unwanted social identity, being observed may lead to less behavior ("brown to keep down").United States residents completed three correlational surveys (total N = 1,126) of identity, visibility, and self-reported behavior frequency using the Recurring Pro-environmental Behavior Scale. Three multilevel studies revealed that environmentalist identity predicted pro-environmental behavior more strongly for high-visibility behaviors, controlling for confounds at the person level (attitudes, political identity) and the behavior level (difficulty, effectiveness). This research helps uncover the key social identities and contextual factors

Exploring the Relationship Between Connectedness With Nature, Environmental Identity, and Environmental Self-Identity: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…For example, Brügger et al (2011) state that the "connectedness to nature scale and the environmental identity measure also partly reflect people's environmental concern and not exclusively connection with nature" (p. 330). In addition, the various questionnaire measures of human-nature relationships include items that refer to past behavior, attitudes, identification with groups, affective measures, and so forth (Brick, Sherman, & Kim, 2017;Hinds & Sparks, 2008;Sparks & Guthrie, 1998;Stets & Biga, 2003). For example, the disposition to connect with nature scale (Brügger et al, 2011) consists of items that not only reflect connectedness with nature (e.g., "I feel the need to be out in nature") but also reflect behavior (e.g., "I collect objects from nature such as stones, butterflies, or insects"), affective aspects (e.g., "I mourn the loss of pets"), and personal attitudes (e.g., "Indoor plants are part of the family").…”

Conspicuous diffusion: Theorizing how status drives innovation in electric mobility

“…Instead policymakers may want to adjust incentives based on the type of innovation and where it is on the conspicuous diffusion process. For example, decreasing the cost of a Tesla through policy incentives will certainly increase adoption rates, though a more equitable policymaker may want to want to focus more on incentivizing less conspicuous EVs such as the Nissan Leaf (Brick, Sherman, and Kim 2017). At the same time, policies which increase the visibility of EVs, such as free parking or use of the bus lane, may benefit the Tesla more by increasing its conspicuous value (Griskevicius, Tybur, and Van den Bergh 2010).…”

“…This fails to capture both the coolness and sexiness (or masculinity) embodied with a Tesla. An over-reliance on pro-environmental signaling may even be counterproductive, especially when considering that many individuals may actively seek to avoid pro-environmental signaling, so-called "brown to keep down" (Brick, Sherman, and Kim 2017). Indeed, in tandem with the distrust and unpopularity of environmentalism, the Nissan Leaf does not capture the full spectrum of conspicuousness, as it conspicuously less wasteful than the Tesla.…”

“…For example one may view an electric car has having conspicuous value (perhaps as conspicuous altruism), whereas others would view the same car as having disutility (Sexton and Sexton 2014;Hidrue et al 2011). As such, conspicuous diffusion must have a more nuanced perspective of conspicuous consumption, wastefulness and the canons of conspicuousness, more differentiated by individual lifestyle and identity (Trigg 2001;Brick, Sherman, and Kim 2017).…”

Pro-environmental behavior as a signal of cooperativeness: Evidence from a social dilemma experiment (post-print)

“…As a consequence, people may be reluctant to display or advocate mitigation actions in order to avoid conflict, social sanctions and being perceived negatively by others (cf. Bashir, Lockwood, Chasteen, Nadolny, & Noyes, 2013;Brick, Sherman, & Kim, 2017). Also, people may sort into social relationships with those sharing similar views regarding climate protection, which would allow them to exhibit (or not) pro-environmental behaviors more freely, but this assortative matching could lead to even greater opinion polarization in the long term (Böhm, Pfister, Salway, & Fløttum, 2019).…”