Leonie Venhoeven

Why Acting Environmentally-Friendly Feels Good: Exploring the Role of Self-Image

Recent research suggests that engagement in environmentally-friendly behavior can feel good. Current explanations for such a link do not focus on the nature of environmentally-friendly behavior itself, but rather propose well-being is more or less a side-benefit; behaviors that benefit environmental quality (e.g., spending ones money on people rather than products) also tend to make us feel good. We propose that the moral nature of environmentally-friendly behavior itself may elicit positive emotions as well, because engaging in this behavior can signal one is an environmentally-friendly and thus a good person. Our results show that engagement in environmentally-friendly behavior can indeed affect how people see themselves: participants saw themselves as being more environmentally-friendly when they engaged in more environmentally-friendly behavior (Study 1). Furthermore, environmentally-friendly behavior resulted in a more positive self-image, more strongly when it was voluntarily engaged in, compared to when it was driven by situational constraints (Study 2). In turn, the more environmentally-friendly (Study 1) and positive (Study 2) people saw themselves, the better they felt about acting environmentally-friendly. Together, these results suggest that the specific self-signal that ensues from engaging in environmentally-friendly behavior can explain why environmentally-friendly actions may elicit a good feeling.

Can Engagement in Environmentally-Friendly Behavior Increase Well-Being?

The transition to a sustainable society is an important goal in the coming years. For this transition individual behavior change is necessary. However, engagement in environmentally-friendly behavior may entail some level of discomfort or may involve giving up certain things. Consequently, it is often assumed that people see acting in an environmentally-friendly way as something that would decrease their quality of life. We argue that there is also a brighter view on environmentally-friendly behavior – a view in which engagement may even increase quality of life. In this chapter, we discuss the relationship between environmentally-friendly behavior and quality of life, and give several explanations for why positive and negative relationships might exist. Most importantly, we make a distinction between environmentally-friendly behavior as giving pleasure, and environmentally-friendly behavior as giving meaning, which both have implications for quality of life. Furthermore, we introduce the self-concept as a possible explanation for why engagement in environmentally-friendly behavior could increase quality of life, and discuss autonomy, individual values and the perceived environmental impact of the behavior as factors influencing when engagement could increase quality of life. Finally, we mention practical implications making the distinction between environmentally-friendly behavior as giving pleasure versus giving meaning may have.