Be a Rascal Among Rascal? The Vicarious Moral Self-Regulation Effect in College Students' Pro-Environmental Behaviors

According to social interaction theory, the psychology and behavior of individuals are influenced by others, especially these significant or intimate others. This classical social phenomenon, "Be a rascal among rascal", which explains the influence of others' behavior on an individual's behavior, has also been observed in pro-environmental behavior. In recent years, environmental psychologists have termed this interesting phenomenon as the "vicarious moral self-regulation effect", in which the prior environmental behavior of significant or intimate others influences an individual's subsequent environmental behavior. However, the stability and psychological mechanisms of the vicarious moral self-regulation effect are still not well understood. Therefore, this study aims to verify the vicarious moral self-regulation effect in pro-environmental behavior through four studies.

In Study 1, 90 participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups (a stronger green credentials manipulation, a weaker green credentials manipulation, or a control group about a close friend), and results showed that participants in both stronger and less green credential groups made fewer carbon-neutral choices than those in the control group in the carbon emissions task. In Study 2 (120 participants), compared to the control group, participants in the group imagining both environmentally friendly and unfriendly behavior of close friends made fewer carbon-neutral choices. This finding also was observed in Study 3 (93 participants), where participants under the group of free recalling both environmentally friendly and unfriendly behavior of close friends made fewer green purchasing choices. In Study 4 (75 participants), compared to the control group, participants in the group of both imagining and free recalling the environmentally friendly behavior of a close friend made fewer carbon-neutral choices, and participants in the group of both imagining and free recalling the environmentally unfriendly behavior of close friend made fewer green purchasing choices.

Results suggest that the environmentally friendly behavior of a close friend induces the vicarious moral licensing effect (those who handle vermilion are not reddened), and the environmentally unfriendly behavior of a close friend induces the vicarious moral identity effect (those who touch ink are blackened). Environmental behaviors of intimate others induce the obvious fluctuating changes in college students' subsequent pro-environmental behaviors. This vicarious moral self-regulation effect can be explained by the mechanism of self-other overlap and provide scientific references for promoting pro-environmental behaviors among college students.