Posted by “People who commit their lives to going green are just better people. They’re more moral, more honest. At least, they keep telling us that, and apparently many students believe it, say University of Toronto psychologists” as reported today by John Stossel and printed by Fox News.
The Psychologist’s initially quizzed the students on their impressions of people who buy eco-friendly products and services, and for the most part, they considered such consumers to be more “more cooperative, altruistic and ethical” than ordinary citizens. Then they added a dimension to the test: They ran an extra step to see who would be more likely to cheat and steal: Greenies? Or conventional shoppers?
They divided the greens and conventional shoppers, and then gave the students a test that tempted them to steal money. The researchers found that the green consumers were more likely to cheat than the conventional consumers. And, in fact, they stole more money when asked to withdraw their winnings from “reward” envelopes presented to them. This concept of moral license has been demonstrated before, writes Wray Herbert in his blog for the Association for Psychological Science. “(W)hen they have reason to feel a little superior, that positive self image triggers a sense of moral license. That is, the righteous feel they have some latitude to stray a bit in order to compensate. It’s like working in a soup kitchen gives you the right to cheat on your taxes later in the week.” states Herbert.
HOLD ON A DAMN SECOND!
Cum Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc (which is latin for “with this, therefore because of this”). Which can be further summarized as a “fallacy of conclusion”. Their cited correlation between greens and theft doesn’t implicate moral license. How can an educated group of Psychologists fall for the most obvious pitfall in research? First, they only studied students. This demographic carries with it very, very different ethnographic outcomes than the rest of society. Then they leveraged this singular demographic to extrapolate a hypothesis of general shared behavioral cues for the rest of us.
Again, the ignorance here (on both sides) is nauseating. There is plenty of data to PROVE carbon dioxide’s role in warming. There is plenty of data to show any decade of cooling is not a trend but rather an adolescent attempt to disprove climate change at the expense of statistical know-how. Why the “Scientists” cannot clearly articulate this and why the “Naysayers” refuse to think anything but “socialistic one world order” is completely mind-boggling.
Simply put, why are we attempting to debunk every facet of a bio-ecologically centric mindset?
I’ve stated this before and I’ll state it again – where do I turn in my human race membership card? I want a refund.
All sales are final. No returns, refunds or exchanges.
Yeah, that is what the Lady at the front desk told me. One thing is for sure, I’ll never shop here again.
You can always go “Grizzly Man” – I’m sure there’s a pack of something out there needing a new member.
Gore’s Man Bear Pig Club?
The Man Bear Pig Club terminated Gore’s membership after he didn’t stand-up to the onslaught post-Hopenhagen. I’ve just submitted my app for the Smelly Hairy Beasts.
The entire thing in presentation and politic is a catastrophic sham. The data, whatever it supports, has been set aside or denigrated to the purpose of supporting only political and greed based desires. This issue is a crystal clear example of how low humans can stoop to acquire financial gain.
Slowly but surely, but with increasing momentum, we deserve to perish.
“Why the “Scientists” cannot clearly articulate this and why the “Naysayers” refuse to think anything but “socialistic one world order” is completely mind-boggling.” pretty much sums it up, me thinks.
It is like a room full of people all shouting at once.
OMG! What am I supposed to do with all of these “Progressive” Carbon Credits I just invested my unemployment check on….
janoyes64 – we, the population of the north america, appreciate your dedication with assisting in establishing a cap on carbon release while concurrently attempting to stimulate the economy through an exotic trading instrument — even while out of a job!
if only others could have the same vision and capacity as you we’d solve the great recession, global climate change, and embolden wall street (once again) all in one great push.
kudos!