Consider the following study, which found that people were likely to change their opinion on green travel if they found out their peers were acting hypocritically.

The students from Humboldt State University reside in a small, socially liberal town in northern California which takes pride in its environmental credentials. The students there are largely very environmentally conscious, too. You would expect that a peer’s disregard for carbon emissions would not go down well.

After listening to an interview with a student at the university who stressed the importance of walking or cycling short distances rather than taking a car, and then later admitting to driving to the interview, the participants were asked about their own environmental views. They did this while sat next to an actor. The actor took the role of either a third student wearing a university sweatshirt, or a professional in smart clothing. When the hypocrisy of the interviewee was revealed, the actor either made a negative remark about their behaviour or stayed quiet.

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How the participants judged the importance of walking or cycling short distances was dependent on who they listened to the interview with, and how that person reacted. When sat with someone they thought was another student, and who shared their environmental values, the participants reiterated the importance of cycling. When sat with an outsider it wasn’t so clear cut.

An outsider who commented on the hypocrisy of the interviewee elicited the strongest environmental feelings in the participants. By defending the interviewee from criticism, they reinforced their own view that cycling was important. This is perhaps because they felt the interviewee might normally be more environmentally responsible. Conversely, if the outsider stayed quiet, the participants judged the importance of cycling the lowest. So, how an outsider judges our peers has a big impact on whether we back them up or not.

“This was an interesting study,” adds Gaffney, “because we were able to make some people care less about the environment. Normally this isn’t something that we would actively want to do, but understanding where these views come from could help us to nudge people in the other direction.”

In the face of criticism by a stranger, we might come to the aid of our peers. But if left to form our own opinions, we interpret the hypocritical behaviour as a sign that we can relax our own views. This is called vicarious dissonance.

“Vicarious dissonance is when you see someone behave in a way inconsistent with your attitudes, so you change your attitudes,” says Gaffney. “I should be embarrassed by seeing you act in a non-environmental way, but that doesn’t always happen. I won’t necessarily start copying you, but I will change my attitudes to reflect your behaviour because I feel similar to you and I see you as an extension of myself.”

This study was inspired by several pieces of work in Australia on vicarious dissonance around sun protection use. Again, someone acting hypocritically would relax people’s attitudes around applying protection, where the norm is to be extremely vigilant.