Most People Think They Are More Pro-Environmental than Others: A Demonstration of the Better-than-Average Effect in Perceived Pro-Environmental Behavioral Engagement

People tend to perceive themselves as better than average in various contexts. In this article I test if the better-than-average effect (BTAE) also holds for pro-environmental behavioral engagement. Experiment 1 supported that the majority of participants report to be more pro-environmental than oth...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Basic and applied social psychology Vol. 42; no. 1; pp. 50 - 61
Main Author: Bergquist, Magnus
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Mahwah Routledge 02.01.2020
Psychology Press
Subjects:
Averages
Behavior
bias
Environmentalism
Experiments
Friendship
optimism
Perceptions
Psychology
Psykologi
response styles
risk
spillover
ISSN:0197-3533, 1532-4834
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:People tend to perceive themselves as better than average in various contexts. In this article I test if the better-than-average effect (BTAE) also holds for pro-environmental behavioral engagement. Experiment 1 supported that the majority of participants report to be more pro-environmental than others, using a large representative sample. Experiment 2 validated these findings in 3 additional cultures (United States, United Kingdom, and India) and showed that BTAE held for both abstract (other Americans) and concrete (my friends) comparisons. Experiment 3 found that participants overestimated both how "much" and how "often" they engage in pro-environmental actions. Finally, Experiment 4 found weak support for the hypothesis that inducing BTAE are inhibiting future pro-environmental behaviors.
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ISSN:0197-3533
1532-4834
DOI:10.1080/01973533.2019.1689364