Does Social Reputation Always Increase Pro-Environmental Behavior? The Roles of Social Distance, Peer Influence, and Single Versus Multiple Models
Bibliographic Data
We investigated how social reputation, peer influence, and social distance affect pro-environmental behavior in young Chinese children across three studies ( N = 224, 110 girls). Five-year-olds completed an environmental purchasing task, choosing between cheaper conventional and more expensive eco-friendly products. Study 1 examined behavior under reciprocal versus non-reciprocal observation. Study 2 informed children that a peer (friend or stranger) had purchased an eco-friendly or conventional product before they chose in public or private settings. Study 3 presented two peers (both friends, both strangers, or one of each) exhibiting consistent pro-environmental, consistent conventional, or conflicting behaviors before children made purchasing decisions publicly or privately. Study 1 found that social reputation enhanced pro-environmental behavior. However, Study 2 revealed that when friends acted pro-environmentally, children reduced their own pro-environmental actions publicly, showing vicarious moral licensing. Friends choosing conventional products or strangers’ behaviors had no effect. Moreover, Study 3 demonstrated that vicarious moral licensing was strongest publicly when friends acted pro-environmentally, while strangers did not. When both acted pro-environmentally, children maintained their pro-environmental behaviors publicly. These findings suggest 5-year-olds strategically manage reputation within their social networks through complex mechanisms shaped by social distance and behavioral consistency, not simple imitation
Peer group · Purchasing · Reciprocal · Reputation · Social approval · Social influence · Social relation · Animal and Plant Science Education · Child and Animal Learning Development · Environmental Education and Sustainability
Consistency Versus Licensing Effects of Past Moral Behavior
Breaching or Building Social Boundaries?
Evolution of indirect reciprocity
Social Learning Strategies
Do Green Products Make Us Better People?
G*Power 3
Encouraging pro-environmental behaviour
Social Influence
Exploring Prosocial Performance and Gender Differences in Pre-school Children Through Music Activities
The relations between natural and civic place attachment and pro-environmental behavior
Prosocial Behavior in Early Childhood Across Boys and Girls
Vicarious moral licensing
Preschoolers (sometimes) defer to the majority in making simple perceptual judgments
Imitation in young children
The development of recipient-dependent sharing behavior and sharing expectations in preschool children
Young children’s reputational strategies in a peer group context
The dragons of inaction
Proscriptive versus prescriptive morality
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