Buying "Green" Products Makes You Immoral - Literally

[michael.suede]

LOL

http://www.rightpundits.com/?p=5870

Consumer choices reflect not only price and quality preferences but also social and moral values, as witnessed in the remarkable
growth of the global market for organic and environmentally friendly products. Building on recent research on behavioral
priming and moral regulation, we found that mere exposure to green products and the purchase of such products lead to
markedly different behavioral consequences. In line with the halo associated with green consumerism, results showed that
people act more altruistically after mere exposure to green products than after mere exposure to conventional products.
However, people act less altruistically and are more likely to cheat and steal after purchasing green products than after
purchasing conventional products. Together, our studies show that consumption is connected to social and ethical behaviors
more broadly across domains than previously thought.

http://pss.sagepub.com/content/early/20 ... html?rss=1

The basic assumption is that
people prefer to have a positive moral self, but maintaining it
often comes at a cost because social and ethical dilemmas
usually involve conflicts of interest. Thus, people tend to be
strongly motivated to engage in prosocial and ethical behaviors
if their moral self is threatened by a recent transgression;
they are least likely to scrutinize the moral implications of
their behaviors and to regulate their behaviors right after their
moral self has experienced a boost from a good deed. This
implies that virtuous acts can license subsequent asocial and
unethical behaviors.
Several studies have demonstrated this licensing effect. For
example, Monin and Miller (2001) found that a previous genderegalitarian
act licensed subsequent gender-discriminatory
behavior. Similarly, Sachdeva, Iliev, and Medin (2009) found
that reminding people of their humanitarian traits reduced
their charitable donations. Because purchasing green products
affirms individuals’ values of social responsibility and ethical
consciousness, we predicted that purchasing green products
would establish moral credentials, ironically licensing selfish
and morally questionable behavior.