High and Low Carbon Footprint Feedback Produces Similar Levels of Proenvironmental Intentions Over Time

Abstract

Although there is an increasing number of studies that have investigated the effects that negative emotions have on proenvironmental intentions and environmental attitudes, there is almost no research on how negative emotions affect proenvironmental attitudes and intentions over time. We examined how manipulated guilt over one's carbon footprint (CF) produced changes in concerns toward the environment and proenvironmental intentions over a 2-day period. Participants in the high CF feedback condition reported more guilt on day 1 than those in the low CF feedback condition. Although several between-subject differences in concerns for the environment and intentions to engage in proenvironmental behaviors were found on day 1, there were no differences between the conditions in the aforementioned variables on day 2. The results suggest that memory consolidation is significant for understanding environmental attitudes and behaviors. Specifically, we replicate findings from previous studies (i.e., people experiencing negative emotion report more concern toward the environment and intentions to engage in proenvironmental behavior after CF feedback) as well as report that over time, receiving feedback stating that one's CF is either high or low leads to similar levels in the aforementioned variables. Our findings imply that regardless of the positive or negative appeal, simply thinking about the extent to which one behaves sustainably is significant for combating climate change. Future directions are discussed.