Americans Recommend Smaller Ecological Footprints When Reminded of Intrinsic American Values of Self-Expression, Family, and Generosity

Abstract

Abstract Extrinsic values for money, image, and status are known to be associated with less sustainable ecological attitudes and to be relatively high among American citizens. But America also has a long history of prioritizing the intrinsic values of self-expression, family, and helping the world to be a better place, aims which past studies show promote more sustainable environmental behaviors. We therefore tested whether activating these types of American identities, compared to various control conditions, would affect U.S. college students' policy recommendations about the size of Ecological Footprints (EFs) Americans should have. Results showed that participants primed with an intrinsic American identity recommended significantly lower EFs than did participants primed with an extrinsic American identity, an unqualified American identity, or two control identities (i.e., human and University of Missouri student). Results were stronger for the housing and travel components of the EF than for the food c...