“Do as I Say, Not as I Do” - The role of hypocrisy metaperceptions in conversations about pro-environmental change

Pro-environmental change necessitates discussions about the environment, yet many people avoid such conversations. We propose that this reluctance may partly stem from hypocrisy metaperceptions: because environmental issues are inherently moral and discrepancies between concern and action are common, advocating for behavioral change without acting accordingly may be associated with concerns about being perceived as hypocritical. We investigated whether inducing feelings of hypocrisy reduces willingness to talk about environmental solutions, and whether this differs for individual-level versus system-level change. In a multinational online experiment (N = 957) across six European countries, participants were randomly assigned to a hypocrisy induction or control condition and reported their willingness to discuss individual- and system-level environmental solutions, as well as their metaperceptions of appearing hypocritical. While the hypocrisy induction did not significantly affect metaperceptions or willingness to talk, structural equation modeling revealed a negative association between hypocrisy metaperceptions and willingness to discuss both individual- and system-level change. Our findings suggest that the anticipated social costs of appearing hypocritical may contribute to the silence surrounding environmental discourse, potentially undermining the very conversations needed to drive both individual behavior change and system-level change on environmental issues.