NEXT time you put a green product in your shopping trolley, make sure any virtuous feelings don鈥檛 go to your head. In an experiment, people making a green purchase became more likely to cheat and steal, as if an act of environmental virtue is an excuse for vice elsewhere (see 鈥淓xposed: green consumers鈥� dirty little secrets鈥�). The finding may have a bearing on why it is so hard to change people鈥檚 behaviour. If real-word efforts to go green are affected in the same way, we need to find new strategies to encourage green consumption. Virtue, it turns out, is not its own reward.
The slippery slope that begins with an eco-purchase
People buying environmentally friendly products became more likely to cheat and steal 鈥� as if their virtue deserved a reward