Pro-Environmental Behavior Triggers Moral Inference, Not Licensing by Observers

Several studies have shown that, through a phenomenon known as moral licensing by observers, a person’s prior good deeds will make observers more lenient in their judgment of subsequent immoral behaviors committed by that person. Environmental behavior is generally perceived as moral behavior, but it is not known whether it can trigger moral licensing by observers. In two registered experimental laboratory studies (N1 = 198, N2 = 501), we have tested whether prior engagement in pro-environmental behavior triggers licensing by observers and thus makes observers judge more positively actors’ subsequent immoral behavior (Study 1) and their subsequent anti- and pro-environmental behaviors (Study 2). We found that people who engaged in pro-environmental behavior were subsequently rated as more pro-environmental and moral and their subsequent pro- and anti-environmental behaviors (but not outright immoral behavior) were rated as more moral by observers. Given that the effects of prior pro-environmental behavior affect the morality rating of not only subsequent anti-environmental but also pro-environmental behavior, these effects are not simple licensing effects as they do not “license” a person’s immoral behavior or character. Such effects are consistent with theories of moral judgment whereby character judgment is updated based on prior morally significant events, which then affect subsequent judgments of the morality of behavior.