Posted on 03/15/2010 9:39:04 PM PDT by Free ThinkerNY
When Al Gore was caught running up huge energy bills at home at the same time as lecturing on the need to save electricity, it turns out that he was only reverting to "green" type.
According to a study, when people feel they have been morally virtuous by saving the planet through their purchases of organic baby food, for example, it leads to the "licensing [of] selfish and morally questionable behaviour", otherwise known as "moral balancing" or "compensatory ethics".
Do Green Products Make Us Better People is published in the latest edition of the journal Psychological Science. Its authors, Canadian psychologists Nina Mazar and Chen-Bo Zhong, argue that people who wear what they call the "halo of green consumerism" are less likely to be kind to others, and more likely to cheat and steal. "Virtuous acts can license subsequent asocial and unethical behaviours," they write.
The pair found that those in their study who bought green products appeared less willing to share with others a set amount of money than those who bought conventional products. When the green consumers were given the chance to boost their money by cheating on a computer game and then given the opportunity to lie about it – in other words, steal – they did, while the conventional consumers did not. Later, in an honour system in which participants were asked to take money from an envelope to pay themselves their spoils, the greens were six times more likely to steal than the conventionals.
Mazar and Zhong said their study showed that just as exposure to pictures of exclusive restaurants can improve table manners but may not lead to an overall improvement in behaviour, "green products do not necessarily make for better people".
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
I have seen this phenomenon.
in other words greenies are a-holes. lol. can’t say i have found contradictory results to argue against this article.
So, Is Al Gore a liar and a thief ?
He’s pretty much like everyone else in his neighborhood. ;-)
Empirical evidence: Look at the Mall in DC in the aftermath of an environmentalist rally.
Green costs more, so those in thrall to it may feel a need to be penurious in other matters.
Well, I think superiorism is a rampant symptom of liberal elitism which excuses hypocrisy for some feeling of moral superiority in thinking that they should be above criticism due to their “good intentions”.
Not only are there “greener-then-thou” hypocrites, there are also “healthier-than-thou” types with the same attitude and disdain for others, particularly those who don’t share their value system.
Not that the Left has a monopoly on superiorism. Unfortunately, some Christians also practice this and launch into condemnation-mode on anything that doesn’t live up to their self-styled standards, even though a proper understanding of Jesus’ life is to illustrate how people should seek and do God’s will rather than pointing fingers and fists at everyone else’s standards.
They needed a study to figure this out?
scam?
They were already aholes and use their "green lifestyle" as justification for being so.
In other words, they were at odds with societal norms already and needed a reason to explain, or justify, their actions.
iGore's house
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