Pro-Environmental Behavior Triggers Moral Inference, Not Licensing by Observers

0571068 - ÚVGZ 2024 RIV US eng J - Journal Article
Urban, Jan - Bahník, Š. - Kohlová, M.B.
Pro-Environmental Behavior Triggers Moral Inference, Not Licensing by Observers.
Environment and Behavior. Roč. 55, č. 1-2 (2023), s. 74-98. ISSN 0013-9165. E-ISSN 1552-390X
Institutional support: RVO:86652079
Keywords : licensing by observers * pro-environmental behavior * environmental attitude * immoral behavior * moral inference * character judgment
OECD category: Ecology
Impact factor: 5.7, year: 2022
Method of publishing: Open access
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00139165231163547

Several studies have shown that moral licensing by observers makes observers more lenient in their judgment of subsequent immoral behaviors committed by a person. Environmental behavior is generally perceived as moral behavior, but it is not known whether it can trigger moral licensing by observers. In two pre-registered experimental laboratory studies (N-1 = 198, N-2 = 501), we have tested whether prior engagement in pro-environmental behavior triggers licensing by observers and thus makes observers judge more positively actors' subsequent immoral behavior (Study 1) and their subsequent anti- and pro-environmental behaviors (Study 2). We found that people engaging in pro-environmental behavior were subsequently rated as more pro-environmental and moral, and their subsequent pro- and anti-environmental behaviors (but not outright immoral behavior) were rated as more moral by observers. As these effects also concern subsequent pro-environmental behaviors, they are broader than what licensing theory suggests.
Permanent Link: https://hdl.handle.net/11104/0342378