Did You Just See That? Making Sense of Environmentally Relevant Behavior

Abstract

Abstract

We explored how social perceivers detect and explain others' environmentally relevant behaviors (ERBs). Participants watched short videos in which an actor performed an ERB (e.g., composting) or a control behavior (e.g., setting the table); they were then asked to explain why the actor had performed this behavior. Participants “detected” an (a priori classified) ERB if their explanation made explicit reference to the environmental relevance of the action. In a comparison of self-identified environmentalists and nonenvironmentalists, environmentalists detected significantly more ERBs (d=1.3). Relying on a recently developed theory of behavior explanations, we also classified explanations into two modes: Explainers can offer reasons and thereby “mentalize”—citing the subjective mental states (e.g., beliefs, desires) in light of which the agent chose to act; explainers can also offer causal history factors, referring to the broader background of that choice (e.g., personality, culture). When perceivers identified a behavior as environmentally relevant, they used significantly more causal history explanations, overlooking the agent's subjective grounds for acting. This effect was stronger for self-identified environmentalists. One interpretation of these results is that actions framed as environmental are seen less as reflecting conscious choices and more as belonging to a broad category of behavior. Focusing on causal background rather than on the agent's reasons may present obstacles for social perceivers' adoption of other people's environmental behavior.