The ecological bad is stronger than good: emotions toward harmful behaviour shape attitudes and actions more

Two studies highlighted the crucial role of emotions towards harmful vs. friendly behaviours in environmental decision-making. Study 1 (N = 687) explored the link between pro-environmental attitudes, anticipated emotions, and choices in hypothetical scenarios. Study 2, an experience sampling study (N = 233), analyzed 2005 real-life behaviours to examine the relationship between experienced emotions and environmental attitudes. Results indicated that pro-environmental attitudes were particularly related to emotional anticipations and experiences regarding environmentally harmful (vs. environmentally friendly) behaviour. Importantly, the anticipated emotions regarding harmful actions significantly influenced behavioural decisions more than those related to pro-environmental actions, mediating the relationship between pro-environmental attitudes and eventual behavioural decisions. The findings support the “bad is stronger than good” principle, regardless of the valence of people`s emotional experience.