This study investigates why people report that acting sustainably feels good, despite such actions often requiring more effort or inconvenience than less sustainable alternatives. Testing whether the positive emotions associated with sustainable behaviour depend on how voluntary the action feels, the authors find that people report feeling more positive about sustainable actions when they have personally chosen to engage in them, and more negative about unsustainable actions chosen freely - suggesting that a sense of personal agency, rather than the environmental outcome alone, contributes to the positive emotional experience of green behaviour.
Why going green feels good
2020
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This study investigates why people report that acting sustainably feels good, despite such actions often requiring more effort or inconvenience than less sustainable alternatives. Testing whether the positive emotions associated with sustainable behaviour depend on how voluntary the action feels, the authors find that people report feeling more positive about sustainable actions when they have personally chosen to engage in them, and more negative about unsustainable actions chosen freely - suggesting that a sense of personal agency, rather than the environmental outcome alone, contributes to the positive emotional experience of green behaviour.
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