Jorge Rincon - 1st year PhD presentation

Bridging the Green Gap: Promoting Pro-Environmental Behaviours Among Consumers

Info about event

Time

Monday 22 August 2022,  at 12:00 - 12:45

Location

2628-211

Organizer

Department of Management

Supervisors: Polymeros Chrysochou & John Thøgersen
Discussants: Marija Banovic & Carsten Bergenholtz

Abstract
The inconsistency between consumers' intention to protect the environment and their actions is called the green gap (Diprose et al., 2019). Previous research shows that behavioural economic theories might contribute to closing this gap. For instance, when the energy provider sets the greenest option as default, most people are unlikely to change to another option (Sunstein & Reisch, 2014). Following a positivist approach, my PhD research will focus on behaviours with a high environmental footprint and priority for policymakers.

The first study of my PhD focuses on the hypothesis that animal anthropomorphism reduces meat intake, which is attributed to individuals experiencing guilt toward animal suffering. (Kim & Yoon, 2021). This hypothesis, however, is not consistent (Williams et al., 2021). My take on such inconsistency is that the approach to anthropomorphism is conceptually weak. I postulate that physical resemblance to humans, as done in other fields (e.g., objects such as cars and robots), might backfire by eliciting incongruency effects (e.g., making animals look unrealistic). To address this inconsistency, I will draw on previous work on Theory of Mind (ToM). ToM is what allows us to perceive animals as human-like beings, affecting our moral judgment (Higgs et al., 2020; Loughnan et al., 2014). Therefore, in this study, I will activate animal anthropomorphism by exploiting ToM, eliciting further feelings of guilt towards animal suffering, and preventing people from eating meat.

Further studies in this PhD project will follow the same overall aim and research methodology but in different domains, such as reducing waste sorting, energy consumption or commuting. 

Everyone is welcome!