Geiger, Gruszczynski examine relationship between political identity, recycling
Inaccurate meta-beliefs may drive political polarization regarding environmental actions, according to a paper co-authored by assistant professors Nathaniel Geiger and Mike Gruszczynski.
“Political Ingroup Conformity and Pro-Environmental Behavior: Evaluating the Evidence from a Survey and Mousetracking Experiments,” by Geiger, Michael H. Pasek, Gruszczynski, Nathaniel J. Ratcliff and Kevin S. Weaver, appears in the Journal of Environmental Psychology.
The group conducted four studies to examine whether “heightening the salience of political identity and providing information that one is conforming to or failing to conform to political group norms influences engagement in a pro-environmental behavior (recycling).”
Because there is a perceived link between pro-environmental behavior and being liberal, U.S. conservatives may be less likely to take pro-environmental actions. The studies examined the effect of political in-group norms on recycling behavior.