CAN GOING GREEN MAKE YOU MEAN?

CAN GOING GREEN MAKE YOU MEAN? I have taken the caption for this post from an article in the Guardian about research by two psychologists which suggests that “people who wear what they call the ‘halo of green consumerism’ are less likely to be kind to others, and more likely to cheat and steal.” This article in the New York Times asks a similarly harsh question based on the research: “Are consumers of ‘green’ products more likely to be miserly and thieving?” One obvious explanation for the experimental result is that experiments like this are very hard to do because it is hard to eliminate all factors which affect the result. Another explanation. of course, is that environmentalists are not in fact as nice as other people. However, the authors of articles on the research accept the results of the experiment and offer various explanatory theories for the results. I find these theories interesting because they apply to people in general and to ethical behavior in general, and not just to environmental issues.