Psych at Work

I was SO excited when I saw the Washington Post's Express today had a cover story about the green revolution and behavioral change... or the lack thereof. Basically, the Post covered the rapidly expanding area of social psychology and judgment and decision-making (JDM) called moral licensing. It's the idea that we have internal debates with ourselves and we'll give ourselves credit for doing something good for the environment (or our health, etc.), but then we'll do something else that's bad because we gave ourselves permission to do something worse after doing something good... and vice versa. It's a constant game of withdrawals and deposits, decision-making on the fly and in complicated situations.

It's the science and studies behind findings that humans will install green-er light bulbs, but leave them on longer. Or get an energy efficient washer, but wash more clothes; get a Big Mac and fries with a Diet Coke; drive a Suburban to Whole Foods... the examples are virtually endless. I find some of these findings so fascinating and the intersection psychology with marketing and techniques to encourage behavioral change is really exciting and I imagine that this research will get a lot of funding in coming years as advertisers and businesses catch on and the "hippies" campaigning for change realize that the science of human behavior can offer as much as the science of climatology towards saving the planet!