Griskevicius and colleagues (2010) predicted that the motivation of status would lead a person to spend more money on green products that are not as luxurious but show others that they are not selfish and care about the environment. The dependent variable in these experiments was preference for green or nongreen products, and the independent variable was the motivation to gain status (Griskevicius et al., 2010).
The first experiment had participants read about three different products, and each product had a green option that was good for the environment and a nongreen option that was more luxurious and worked better (Griskevicius et al., 2010). Both options were the same price for each product and made by the same company, and participants had to choose which option they would buy. Before choosing products the experimental group read a story about social status in order to motivate them to care about this, but it did not mention anything about ways to gain status. The control group read a story that was not related to motivation or the study. Each group was told they were in a study about memory, and that a survey choosing products was only a way of letting time pass. The second experiment was the same as the first except that both the control and experimental groups were divided into two more groups by private and public shopping. One set of instructions referred to shopping in a store, and the other referred to shopping online alone. The third experiment was also the same as the first except the prices of the products were no longer the same. Both the control and experimental groups were divided into two more groups where the green products were either cheaper or more expensive than the nongreen products (Griskevicius et al., 2010).
The results of the first experiment showed that people are more likely to buy green products when they are motivated by social status, even though the other products have better other features (Griskevicius et al., 2010). The results of the second experiment showed that people were more likely to buy the green products when they were in public and others were watching. When people were shopping in private, and their choices did not affect their reputation, they were more likely to buy nongreen products. The results of the third experiment showed that people were more likely to buy green products when they were more expensive than the nongreen products, but when the green products were cheaper the motivation of status made participants less likely to buy them (Griskevicius et al., 2010).
Griskevicius and colleagues (2010) suggested that if people wanting status and a good reputation leads them to self-sacrifice, then this can be used to motivate proenvironmental behavior which can benefit society and the planet. I thought this study was really interesting and amusing because of how the commercialization of protecting the environment has affected the way people’s reputations are formed.
References
Griskevicius, V., Tybur, J. M., & Van den Bergh, B. (2010). Going green to be seen: Status, reputation, and conspicuous conservation. Journal of personality and social psychology, 98(3), 392-404.
