Biased Estimates of Environmental Impact in the Negative Footprint Illusion : The Nature of Individual Variation
(2022) In Frontiers in Psychology 12.- Abstract
People consistently act in ways that harm the environment, even when believing their actions are environmentally friendly. A case in point is a biased judgment termed the negative footprint illusion, which arises when people believe that the addition of “eco-friendly” items (e.g., environmentally certified houses) to conventional items (e.g., standard houses), reduces the total carbon footprint of the whole item-set, whereas the carbon footprint is, in fact, increased because eco-friendly items still contribute to the overall carbon footprint. Previous research suggests this illusion is the manifestation of an “averaging-bias.” We present two studies that explore whether people’s susceptibility to the negative footprint illusion is... (More)
People consistently act in ways that harm the environment, even when believing their actions are environmentally friendly. A case in point is a biased judgment termed the negative footprint illusion, which arises when people believe that the addition of “eco-friendly” items (e.g., environmentally certified houses) to conventional items (e.g., standard houses), reduces the total carbon footprint of the whole item-set, whereas the carbon footprint is, in fact, increased because eco-friendly items still contribute to the overall carbon footprint. Previous research suggests this illusion is the manifestation of an “averaging-bias.” We present two studies that explore whether people’s susceptibility to the negative footprint illusion is associated with individual differences in: (i) environment-specific reasoning dispositions measured in terms of compensatory green beliefs and environmental concerns; or (ii) general analytic reasoning dispositions measured in terms of actively open-minded thinking, avoidance of impulsivity and reflective reasoning (indexed using the Cognitive Reflection Test; CRT). A negative footprint illusion was demonstrated when participants rated the carbon footprint of conventional buildings combined with eco-friendly buildings (Study 1 and 2) and conventional cars combined with eco-friendly cars (Study 2). However, the illusion was not identified in participants’ ratings of the carbon footprint of apples (Study 1 and 2). In Studies 1 and 2, environment-specific dispositions were found to be unrelated to the negative footprint illusion. Regarding reflective thinking dispositions, reduced susceptibility to the negative footprint illusion was only associated with actively open-minded thinking measured on a 7-item scale (Study 1) and 17-item scale (Study 2). Our findings provide partial support for the existence of a negative footprint illusion and reveal a role of individual variation in reflective reasoning dispositions in accounting for a limited element of differential susceptibility to this illusion.
(Less)
- author
- Threadgold, Emma ; Marsh, John E. ; Holmgren, Mattias ; Andersson, Hanna LU ; Nelson, Megan and Ball, Linden J.
- publishing date
- 2022-01-18
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- actively open-minded thinking, environment, individual variation, negative footprint illusion, reasoning
- in
- Frontiers in Psychology
- volume
- 12
- article number
- 648328
- publisher
- Frontiers Media S. A.
- external identifiers
-
- pmid:35115976
- scopus:85123933225
- ISSN
- 1664-1078
- DOI
- 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.648328
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- no
- additional info
- Funding Information: The research reported in this article was supported by funding for the Centre of Translational Biosciences and Behaviour, awarded to ET. Publisher Copyright: Copyright © 2022 Threadgold, Marsh, Holmgren, Andersson, Nelson and Ball.
- id
- 947b58f0-2e69-4e96-be2a-2a14b6189f10
- date added to LUP
- 2023-12-05 16:34:51
- date last changed
- 2024-04-18 13:11:17
@article{947b58f0-2e69-4e96-be2a-2a14b6189f10, abstract = {{<p>People consistently act in ways that harm the environment, even when believing their actions are environmentally friendly. A case in point is a biased judgment termed the negative footprint illusion, which arises when people believe that the addition of “eco-friendly” items (e.g., environmentally certified houses) to conventional items (e.g., standard houses), reduces the total carbon footprint of the whole item-set, whereas the carbon footprint is, in fact, increased because eco-friendly items still contribute to the overall carbon footprint. Previous research suggests this illusion is the manifestation of an “averaging-bias.” We present two studies that explore whether people’s susceptibility to the negative footprint illusion is associated with individual differences in: (i) environment-specific reasoning dispositions measured in terms of compensatory green beliefs and environmental concerns; or (ii) general analytic reasoning dispositions measured in terms of actively open-minded thinking, avoidance of impulsivity and reflective reasoning (indexed using the Cognitive Reflection Test; CRT). A negative footprint illusion was demonstrated when participants rated the carbon footprint of conventional buildings combined with eco-friendly buildings (Study 1 and 2) and conventional cars combined with eco-friendly cars (Study 2). However, the illusion was not identified in participants’ ratings of the carbon footprint of apples (Study 1 and 2). In Studies 1 and 2, environment-specific dispositions were found to be unrelated to the negative footprint illusion. Regarding reflective thinking dispositions, reduced susceptibility to the negative footprint illusion was only associated with actively open-minded thinking measured on a 7-item scale (Study 1) and 17-item scale (Study 2). Our findings provide partial support for the existence of a negative footprint illusion and reveal a role of individual variation in reflective reasoning dispositions in accounting for a limited element of differential susceptibility to this illusion.</p>}}, author = {{Threadgold, Emma and Marsh, John E. and Holmgren, Mattias and Andersson, Hanna and Nelson, Megan and Ball, Linden J.}}, issn = {{1664-1078}}, keywords = {{actively open-minded thinking; environment; individual variation; negative footprint illusion; reasoning}}, language = {{eng}}, month = {{01}}, publisher = {{Frontiers Media S. A.}}, series = {{Frontiers in Psychology}}, title = {{Biased Estimates of Environmental Impact in the Negative Footprint Illusion : The Nature of Individual Variation}}, url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.648328}}, doi = {{10.3389/fpsyg.2021.648328}}, volume = {{12}}, year = {{2022}}, }