Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 24, 2025
09:05
Measurements of CO2 Fluxes at Non-Ideal Eddy Covariance Sites
Published on: June 24, 2019
8.0K
The negative footprint illusion in environmental impact estimates: Methodological considerations
Patrik Sörqvist1, Mattias Holmgren1
1Department of Building Engineering, Energy Systems and Sustainability Science, University of Gävle, Gävle, Sweden.
Frontiers in Psychology
|October 20, 2022
Summary
The negative footprint illusion, where combined items appear to have lower carbon footprints, is a reliable phenomenon. This study confirms its validity even under time pressure and using quantitative scales.
Area of Science:
- Environmental psychology
- Cognitive biases
- Sustainable consumption
Background:
- The 'negative footprint illusion' demonstrates how cognitive biases influence environmental behavior.
- Previous research questioned the illusion's reliability on quantitative scales or with within-participant designs.
- The impact of time pressure on this illusion remained unexplored.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the reliability and validity of the negative footprint illusion.
- To examine the influence of time pressure on the negative footprint illusion.
- To determine if the illusion persists across different methodological conditions.
Main Methods:
- An experiment was conducted using a within-participants design.
- Participants estimated carbon emissions in kilograms of CO2 (a ratio scale).
- Estimates were made under both high and low time pressure conditions.
Main Results:
- The negative footprint illusion was observed even when using a ratio scale for emissions.
- The illusion persisted under both high and low time pressure conditions.
- The findings indicate the illusion is robust across methodological variations.
Conclusions:
- The negative footprint illusion is a reliable and valid cognitive bias.
- The illusion is not an artifact of specific experimental setups and generalizes broadly.
- This phenomenon provides a robust paradigm for studying cognitive influences on environmental behavior.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
02:30Naturalistic Observations
15.6K
If you want to understand how behavior occurs, one of the best ways to gain information is to simply observe the behavior in its natural context. However, people might change their behavior in unexpected ways if they know they are being observed. How do researchers obtain accurate information when people tend to hide their natural behavior? As an example, imagine that your professor asks everyone in your class to raise their hand if they always wash their hands after using the restroom. Chances...
15.6K
01:14Fundamental Attribution Error
13.0K
According to some social psychologists, people tend to overemphasize internal factors as explanations—or attributions—for the behavior of other people. They tend to assume that the behavior of another person is a trait of that person, and to underestimate the power of the situation on the behavior of others. They tend to fail to recognize when the behavior of another is due to situational variables, and thus to the person’s state. This erroneous assumption is...
13.0K
03:26Framing Effects
7.5K
Information is everywhere and its presentation—such as how and when items are presented—can impact our perceptions and decisions surrounding the info. This broad concept umbrellas framing effects—influences that occur due to the way information is framed in its appearance, whether it’s purely the order or the specific wording of a message. Let’s take a look at numerous ways in which two versions of something can objectively say the same thing, yet we respond in...
7.5K
01:08The Availability Heuristic
6.1K
A heuristic is a general problem-solving framework (Tversky & Kahneman, 1974). You can think of these as mental shortcuts that are used to solve problems. Different types of heuristics are used in different types of situations, and the impulse to use a heuristic occurs when one of five conditions is met (Pratkanis, 1989):
6.1K
01:41Social Traps
22.7K
Social traps are negative situations where people get caught in a direction or relationship that later proves to be unpleasant, with no easy way to back out of or avoid. The concept was orignally introduced by John Platt who applied psychology to Garrett Hardin's "Tragedy of the Commons", where in New England herd owners could let their cattle graze in the common ground. This situation seems like a good idea, but an individual could have an advantage. If they owned...
22.7K
01:17Hypothesis: Accept or Fail to Reject?
28.2K
The outcome of any hypothesis testing leads to rejecting or not rejecting the null hypothesis. This decision is taken based on the analysis of the data, an appropriate test statistic, an appropriate confidence level, the critical values, and P-values. However, when the evidence suggests that the null hypothesis cannot be rejected, is it right to say, 'Accept' the null hypothesis?
There are two ways to indicate that the null hypothesis is not rejected. 'Accept' the null...
There are two ways to indicate that the null hypothesis is not rejected. 'Accept' the null...
28.2K